Synthetics and Spectres
by Gadflow
Summary: Prologue ME 1 AU. Rewrite for this story is currently in progress.
1. Where no one asks your name

Synthetics and Spectres

AN: Firstly for those who have already read chapter one this is a complete rewrite. I felt that I could improve upon the original, and decided I wanted to make sure I delivered a good first impression for new readers. I held back a lot from my original variant, and I also didn't want to put in too much due to how long it has been since I wrote fiction. However, I have decided to toss that idea out the window, substantially longer chapter time.

To those new readers welcome, this AU fic will deal with some themes I always felt didn't get enough, or proper, attention that I had hoped they would receive in the series proper. First off, the reason Nihlus gives for proposing Shepard to the Spectres is due to your service history choice, but even the latest in the time line, Torfan in 2178, happens five years before ME 1. As such Nihlus in this universe proposed Shepard to be inducted into the Spectres a full six years before ME 1.

My second big focus is on synthetic augmentation, aside for Shepard's built in mood light in ME 2 we don't see any indication of real cybernetic augmentation that is visible. Now yes it is the future, but the sole source of visible cybernetics is apparently the freaking Reapers. Now yes the Reapers probably don't care all that much about aesthetics but I don't buy it. As such expect cybernetics to be less under the hood, and more chrome.

Lastly I will be playing loose with order of events once we get into game territory. Same goes for characters, expect characters from later games to show up earlier. Likewise with technology, unless it was stated to have been made after a certain point I may use it, and if it does state otherwise and I use it I intend to make sure it is explained in universe.

I will also include a song, or two, that I feel embodies the mood of the chapter. And check out my profile for songs that sum up characters, their relationships, and overall themes of the story.

Song: I AM ALIVE; Miracle of Sound.

S&amp;S

"Welcome to the N7 database, please enter your query." The tinny voice of the V.I sounded from the console in front of the Turian. He was done getting the run around from that worm Udina, "Personal profile and service history." As the V.I processed his request he tapped his talons against the metal of the table. After Shepard had been injured following Akuze he had understood their request for her to be given time to recuperate, but now they were trying to push their own candidate. Some human female by the name of Rachel Gates, as if managing to fight off a bunch of poorly equipped pirates was enough to get you into the Spectres.

"Input access code." The aggravatingly calm voice of the V.I drew his thought back to the console, several clicks followed as Nihlus tapped in the code Bau had supplied him, "Access code accepted, have a nice day." Nice day? What moron programmed a military V.I with niceties, regardless several quick queries led him to his destination, Shepard's personnel file. "Computer, where is Evalyn Shepard currently deployed?"

Standing the Turian began to stalk towards the cockpit, he was done being patient. He would just go and approach Shepard personally about the candidacy. "Evalyn Shepard has been honorably discharged from the Alliance, reasons cited: Psychological disorder due to loss of her unit."

Nihlus merely stopped, his body halfway transitioned into the cockpit. "Spirits." But something didn't feel right about this to him, if she wasn't fit for service why not just inform him. "Computer contact Jondum Bau." By the time he had reached his workstation the screen was filled with a distorted view of the Salarian, "Sorry for having to bother you Bau, but I could use another favor. Shepard's been discharged from the Alliance, and I need to track her down."

S&amp;S

While Nihlus was waiting for Bau to contact him with Shepard's location he decide to review the file the Spectre office kept on her.

'Lieutenant Commander Evalyn "Eva" M. Shepard. Nominally trained as an Alliance Sentinel, Shepard has little in common with the support specialists. She is the only child of the Late Admiral John Shepard, and Commander Hannah A. Shepard. Shepard is extremely intelligent, and has a particular talent when it comes to technology. Including but not limited to, heavy modification of firearms (her primary weapon was a Sabre modified to use both a council heat sink, and the human 'Thermal Clip'), creation and use of "micro-turrets," proficient use of the "Omni-Shield" which she uses instead of the traditional Tech Armor, and lastly a heavily modified military Omni-Tool. She is a gifted hacker, using extremely adaptable programs of her own design that enable her to access many hardened date sites (Note: Shepard is on a watch list for those most likely to be involved in A.I research). Subject is biotic, but like most humans is a class II, capable of light barriers and augmenting of close quarters strikes.'

'Additional notes: Shepard due to an incident when she was Fourteen was exposed to a element zero a second time. While it made her into a minor biotic, the radiation had the side effect of causing her body to reject any cloned organs. As such she requires cybernetic replacements for any lost organs or limbs. Currently estimated to be in the range of 30% cybernetic following Akuze. Notable cybernetic characteristics include: Left eye; replaced following secondary exposure, right arm and much of the shoulder; lost to a Thresher Maw on Akuze, Upper right hip, lost to a Thresher Maw on Akuze. Rumor has it that Shepard her undergone several non-registered cybernetic enhancements but no concrete evidence exists.'

'Psychological analysis per Spectre Nihlus' request. Shepard is a patriot, primarily to the SA, but she also believes in the idea of the Citadel Council. As such appeals on behalf of the Alliance would gain leverage in the short term, while in the long term her loyalties would shift from the Alliance to the Council, this makes her an ideal initial human candidate for the Spectres. She is uncomfortable planet side for long periods of time, a side-effect of her having lived in space for most of her life. She has been noted to have at least several non-human relations, all with Asari, but these ended once she joined the SA, has not entered into a relationship since. Shepard is driven to excel in whatever she does, this is best evidenced by her holding 27 of 28 of the current records at N School (it should be noted that combat driving was the only record she does not hold). Ensuring that Shepard has tasks that challenge her will be paramount to gaining her loyalty, treating her like some common soldier is not recommended.'

'Combat analysis per Spectre Vasir's and Spectre Arterius' request. Shepard prefers to fight at medium range, traditionally using marksmen weapons. Originally she used a heavily modified Mattock rifle, but upon reaching N4 she upgraded to the heavier Sabre. Shepard nominally uses a N7 Hurricane as a backup CQ weapon, and while she can use most other weapons she is not an expert in their use. Shepard's prefers to use flame based tech attacks, as well as overloads. She is also proficient with the sabotage of her opponents weapons, but has a noted tendency to default to other methods. She carries two "micro-turrets" on her person, normally stored on her forearms for charging (note turrets can be fired from their charging position). One turret has a built in flamethrower, while the second one is fitted with a small missile launcher. Lastly Shepard uses a highly modified Omni-Shield, when she uses it she is unable to utilize ranged tech attacks, but reports have shown her augmenting the shield to ignite targets struck. Note: Shepard is right dominant, but has trained herself to fire primarily with her left in order to be able to maintain accuracy while using her shield.'

A chime on Nihlus' Omni indicated that Bau had forwarded him some data. He quickly glanced over it, before remotely sending the coordinates to the ship's V.I, he decided to finish reading the last section of the report on Shepard.

'Recommended elimination strategies per Spectre Arterius' request. Shepard is not a skilled hand to hand fighter, preferring to engage at range. Her Omni-shield is mostly used to protect herself from enemy fire, and to engage in flank/breach maneuvers. Attacks at extreme range are effective to the same degree they are to most humanoids. Note: It is believed that Shepard may have installed a highly modified Graybox sometime before Akuze, unknown on how it may differ in function from the standard model, if it does indeed exist.'

Nihlus powered down the console, before he transitioned from his chair to the bunk near his workstation. The trip to the Citadel would take nearly half a day, and he didn't plan on wasting a moment once he arrived.

S&amp;S

Bau's information led him to a bar deep inside of Zakera Ward, the bar had some kind of odd Salarian name that translated to "Drunk in Shadows" which Nihlus was sure had to be a glitch on his translator's part. Entering the structure caused his brain to begin the unconscious procedure of identifying the room's layout, patrons, and potential cover in case of sudden attack. The bar itself looked worse than it's name, a battered room filled with bad lighting and beat up metal tables. A few booths lined the wall in the back, with one of them housing the sole human in the place. Though the combination of bad lighting, and their positioning made it difficult for him to tell if it was even female let alone Shepard.

First things first though, he needed a drink. A reedy looking Salarian tended bar, and he seemed to only grudgingly leave his stool after Nihlus leaned up against the bar. "Just give me something that won't kill me, and give that human woman in the back a round on me." That the Salarian simply nodded Nihlus chose to take as he got the gender right, or the lizard just didn't care, he didn't really care to take a bet on that one.

Pushing himself off the bar he weaved through the haphazard tables that littered the middle of the room, approaching the side of the human's booth that was unattended. With this angle he was actually able to confirm that yes it was indeed Shepard, and while the woman did not look drunk the handful of glasses in front of her did not attest to sobriety. Her visible eye tracked his form as he approached her, she said nothing as Nihlus slid his armored form into the side opposite of her.

"The fuck do you want." Her words were not slurred, but they had the easy anger of someone who was not in full control of their actions. Nihlus considered whether it would have been better to wait, but he couldn't stall at this point. His mentor Saren was diametrically opposed to any human being considered for the Spectres, and Shepard drunk in a bar on the citadel would be just the type of situation he would use to his advantage.

"Shepard, my name is Nihlus Kryik. I'm a Spectre and I need to have a private conversation with you. Is there perhaps someplace we can talk in private, after you have sobered up some." Talking wasn't Nihlus' strong suit as he was swiftly remembering based off of the reactions of the human in front of him.

"Are you accusing me of being drunk!" Shepard's right hand slammed into the table, leaving a not insubstantial dent in the metal. "And what kind of bullshit is this, there is no way a Spectre would just walk up and act like this was some bad spy film. If I was a Spectre I would have hacked into their Omni, left a message stating the time and place of a meeting. Not whatever stupid Turian version of a practical joke this is." The now livid human woman flowed out of the booth, her gait was steady but she was obviously trying to prevent herself from starting a brawl.

"Shepard, I know who was behind Akuze!" Nihlus could only hope that this was not going to blow up in his face spectacularly.

S&amp;S

Akuze, just the mere mentioned of that living hell brought it back to her. The smell of ash from the shuttle detonation, mixed with the smell of acid melted flesh and dead Thresher Maw. The screams from her men, from those damned beasts, of herself as the Maw had taken her arm and part of her hip with it. The feel of the ashes on her skin as she had dragged her half dead body through the battlefield, her only hope was the slim chance that the communication equipment on the second shuttle still worked.

Waking up on Arcturus, sans arm and stuck with some monstrosity they considered an appropriate prosthetic. The constant blocking of any attempt to open an investigation into the event by the Admiralty, her discharge based on grounds that she had imagined the strange signal beacon as some means of coping with the loss of her men, learning that her own Mother had testified against her mental health.

Shepard knew she was close to losing it, to just letting it all go. Pull out her pistol blast this smug Turian bastard in the head, move on to the human embassy and take out Udina if she was lucky. But no, just no. That wasn't how this story ended, and so she turned to face the Turian. "Talk."

His mandibles flared slightly, a small outward showing of surprise. "Not here Shepard." His Omni glowed briefly and she heard a chime in her ear indicating the arrival of a data packet. He continued, "I just forwarded you a set of coordinates, meet me there by the next quarter rotation and we can talk." The Turian slid out of the booth with surprising grace, "Goodbye for now Shepard, and don't forget to enjoy your drink." Shepard's eyebrows raised in confusion before she noticed the small Asari server she had been ignoring this whole time.

She shook her head at the young maiden, "No I think I've had enough for today."

S&amp;S

She needed two things first, one intel, two weapons. Weapons were simple, she would just need to stop by her apartment. As for intel she needed to confirm that tall, dark, and half an idiot was indeed a Spectre. Luckily that could be handled easily by taking a trip to see her favorite human on the Citadel, the fact that Bailey was the only human on the Citadel had nothing to do with the matter.

Zakera Ward, like most of the Citadel had a handful of major C-SEC fortresses in each of the wards. While smaller precincts pulled double duty as both customs stations, and local stations for the surrounding area. In her opinion it was an amazingly inefficient system, but it had been done that way for longer than Humans had had cars so she kept her opinions mostly to herself.

While she walked over to the precinct she ran a quick diagnostic on her arm, she wasn't going to risk getting caught hacking into C-SEC just because she didn't run a quick inspection of her gear.

The arm held no resemblance to what the Alliance had given her, she had used most of her funds to construct and upgrade an arm to her own specifications. Synthetic muscles mimicked the shape and movement of her original arm, the dark black plating was capable of turning blades and small caliber rounds. She had taken a military Omni tool with her when she left the SA, it wasn't to where her previous one had been but she was working on it. She had also installed an Omni-Shield emitter into the arm, though it needed a larger power supply to be able to work to full specification. As is it was more of an Omni-Buckler, but sometimes that was enough. A beep in her ear signified that the diagnostic was complete and everything was all green, satisfied she strode forward into the precinct.

Spotting the man at his desk, his usual cold cup of coffee next to him, brought a small smile to Shepard's face. "Yo, Bailey. Do you have a minute?" As she shouted this she initiated the hack via the remote up-link she had had installed at the same time as her Graybox. The man scowled at the sound of his name, spinning slowly in his chair to face her. "For the last time Shepard, no I cannot get you permits to carry weapons on the Citadel. Your just lucky that no one has tried to impound that arm of yours, we both know you could do more damage with that thing than you could with a rifle."

She only smirked at his, crossing her arms in front of her while leaning against an empty desk across from Baileys own. "I don't know about that, I can do an awful lot of damage with just one little rifle. How do you think I beat the compound in record time?" The compound was the final test that you had in N-school before you entered the active service portion. The idea being that if you couldn't handle the most lethal controlled environment, how did you expect to survive in the least lethal uncontrolled environment.

"I seem to recall hearing that it involved an unauthorized explosive. Couple of the guys with family in the Alliance were talking about it a while back." Shepard could only groan, "It was their fault, they said we could take anything from the table. Not my fault no one thought to overload the generator for the turrets before. And I used a rifle when they made me take the test a second time, still set a record."

Bailey raised his hand in defeat, "Alright you win, so what did you need."

"I'm not exactly sure, but I think I may be leaving the station soon. I paid that Volus for three months in advance, so I was wondering if you could keep an eye on it. Make sure that he doesn't try to rent it out to someone else while I am gone." A small beep signaled the completion of hack, time to swing by her place to complete phase two.

Bailey burst out into a chuckle at the mention of her apartment, "Ya I'd hate for some poor bastard to try to live in that broom closet you call an apartment. If the amount they paid for it didn't drive them insane, the size of it sure would."

She watched as he wilted under the glare she was giving him, "I happen to like my apartment Bailey. Now are you going to help me or what?"

"Yes Shepard, I'll make sure a few of the boys keep an eye on your place. And look take care of yourself out there."

A small smile tugged at her lips, "You watch out for yourself too Bailey." Giving him a small wave she walked out of the precinct into the thoroughfare, bringing up the date her hack had acquired. "Well, shit," was her only response to the blinking Spectre statue indicator underneath Nihlus' name.

S&amp;S

Her apartment was one step above shoe box, two steps down from cozy. It was expensive, had a terrible view, and she didn't like her neighbors. It did however have a lot of places to hide items of a semi-illegal nature.

First she dropped her pistol on to the bed, the weapon bore little resemblance to the Carnifex she had bought when she first arrived. She had stripped the plating, recoil dampner, replace the sight with an electronic one linked up to her cybernetics, and put in a larger heat sink.

Next she took out her 'trouble' bag from under the bed. Inside an Alliance body glove, itself a fictional light armor replacement. Along with two micro-turrets she had manged to reconstruct, though she was still fiddling with their programming. Lastly she pulled out a Kuwashii visor, intended to go over her still natural right eye, it was necessary to level the playing field between it and her cybernetic eye.

She stripped out of her clothes, and slipped into the bathroom taking the body glove with her. She pulled her blonde hair back into a messy bun, revealing the crimson cybernetic eye her hair had previously been hiding. Her face, like the rest of her body was more hallow than it would have been had she been taking care of herself. She'd never been the most curvaceous woman, though she had been told she had a great ass, but looking at herself, really looking at herself, made her realize how far gone she had been these past few months. Shaking her head she began to pull the light armor on, her muscles were much more defined than they normally would be, due she supposed to her not lowering her fitness regime while she ignored her body's caloric intact requirements. Not that she wasn't normally in shape, she kept very fit, but unlike some N7's she didn't consider her danger level equal to how much she could bench.

Finished with getting her armor on she slid the above her sink to one side. Revealing a safe she had installed into the wall, inputting a quick code the door gave a confirmation noise, slowly swinging open. Inside was a several thermal clips and a field stripped 77-Vindicator assault rifle, a weapon she was forced to buy following the destruction of her Sabre, and the rarity of Mattock rifles these days. She quickly reassembled the rifle, inspecting the parts as she inserted them into the quickly completed rifle. Satisfied she sat it on the ground as she popped off a panel under the sink, sliding out her 'bad day' case. She took both it and the rifle with her, setting them both on the bed.

She waved a hand in front of her wall closet to activate it, causing the wall to slide open revealing a small crawlspace she had filled with clothes. She pulled out a pair of black slacks, along with a long sleeved high necked shirt. Pulling those on over her armor she turned back to her bed, first slipping the visor into place over her right eye. Next she placed the turrets on her forearms, the magnetic strips built into the armor keeping them in place. Next she popped the latches on the case, revealing not only even more thermal clips, but three detonation charges. Usually they were used for small scale demolition, but you never knew when you would need an explosive. So she had modified them to be used in two further fashions, in a proximity mode, or as a timer/impact based grenade mode. These she placed on the magnetic strip on her left hip. She took her pistol and placed it on her right hip, she also fitted ten thermal clips in slots built into the armor's waist, allowing her to pull her shirt over them. Finally she placed the 77 in the now empty duffle bag, before slipping into the pair of combat boots she always left by the door. The only thing she wished she had was a shield module for her armor, but she simply hadn't had the funds left after she set up her little bolt hole.

Shepard steeled herself, it was time to go and meet a Spectre.

S&amp;S

The air taxi she had hailed dropped her off only a block from the coordinates Nihlus had given her, they corresponded to a warehouse near the Tiran spaceport here in Zakera. The streets were sparsely populated, but there were still enough civilians milling about that she figured that a bullet to the head wasn't coming. After all if that was the case he could have shot her in the bar, she wasn't however, going in assuming that a friendly chat was all the Spectre wanted.

It didn't take her long before she spotted the building, it was a standard squarish block of a building. But it was built into the corner of the district, so the result was she had no option but to either walk in the front door. Or set off an explosive charge in public, near civilians, on the Citadel. "Well played Spectre" She murmured to herself.

Approaching the side of the door she slid her left hand into the bag, pulling out the rifle with her left. In a single smooth motion she slid a thermal clip from around her waist and inserted it into the gun, right before she shoved open the door. When nothing terrible happen she quickly peeked inside before advancing to a crate she could see close to the doorway.

The interior was badly lit, the kind you get when you have natural light but it is improperly placed. Her eyes picked out shipping containers scatted about the room, some the size of a footstool, others large enough to fit a Mako. All of them potential ambush sites, "All right Spectre I'm here, what the hell do you know about what happened at Akuze!" Her ears picked him up before her eyes did, he blended amazingly well to the shadows.

"If you want to know who was responsible for Akuze Shepard, then you need to beat me. Prove to me that you weren't just lucky when you got off that rock." As if on cue lights hidden throughout the room flared on, her cybernetic eye had already adjusted allowing her to get a lock on the approaching Turian's form. She fired off a burst into him, only to watch his shield absorb it. She went through the mnemonic to summon a barrier, only to feel herself grow faint, and for no magic force field to appear. Nihlus slammed into her, his right arm clamping down on her left wrist forcing her to drop the rifle from it. While his left slammed into her stomach forcing the air in her lungs out in a gasp.

"Come on Shepard, this can't be your best. Prove to me that you survived, because all those poor bastards you served with simply didn't have what it took to keep breathing let alone fight a Thresher Maw."

In the back of her mind she knew he was goading her, but that little voice meant shit to the red that filled her vision. She slammed her knee into the Turian, the biotic field enveloping it cracking something in his chest, as well as forcing him to release her left. She activated the turret on her left arm, sending a trace of small caliber fire at him. He dived behind one of the larger shipping containers while she retrieved her rifle, activating her Omni-shield she advanced slowly into the room. He struck again from the shadows, going again for her left. This time though she intercepted him with her shield, she fire two bursts into his form before he had recovered from her block. Before she had time to hit him with a third she found herself blown off her feet, struggling to right herself she saw the Spectre had held a shotgun in his free hand.

"Fucking concussive shot." She growled, the Spectre was trying to slip into the shadows of the room once again. "Not this time Nihlus." Her body flared a brilliant corona of blue and purple, as the largest shipping crate near Nihlus sent him flying into the wall of the structure. She was only vaguely aware of meeting the floor as her body crumpled from overexertion.

S&amp;S

Nihlus had come to first apparently, his Spectre armor had dosed him with stimulants and medigel to get back up after cracking his head into the wall. He had the raided his ship's non-dextro medical supplies to get Shepard back up and running. And so she found herself awkwardly sitting on a cargo container across from the Turian whose skull she had tried to open like an egg.

"Okay this is awkward enough as it is without the silence. You said you had info on Akuze, now are you going to tell it to me or not?"

Nihlus nodded, "I will but first I need you to understand that this is not just about Akuze. This is an opportunity Shepard to use those skills that the Alliance has tossed away. I am formally extending an offer for you to prove yourself worthy of becoming a Spectre. This business with Akuze would simply be the first of several missions together."

"Spectre? As much as I would love the opportunity we both know the Council isn't going to turn around and nominate a N7 who was just ejected for being crazy into the Spectres." But, if the opportunity was real. Could she really chance saying no, chances to even be considered were extremely rare.

"Indeed you are right, if you were inducted officially you would be posing as an Asari Spectre. It would also entail you to engage in intense training to pass yourself off as an Asari, nothing cosmetic but everything from language, to how to walk. Or at least that was how Vasir was describing it as."

Shepard idly rubbed her cybernetic hand's thumb and index finger together, "Alright say I am interested. What is the next step?"

The Spectre was lit in a hazy orange glow as his Omni-tool projected a small holographic symbol above it. It reminded her of two hexagons, blended together, but it was not a symbol she recognized. "This symbol is of the pro-humanist group Cerberus, they have been active since the Relay 314 incident. From data we managed to uncover from another related cell it led us to this device." A new picture appeared, this one resembled an Alliance beacon, but it's interior workings were nothing alike. It was also something she had seen before, on Akuze.

"I saw that device, or a similar one on Akuze. We thought it was simply a beacon set up by one of the missing colonists. But when it went missing afterwards I tried to find out what happened to it, and well we can see where that path led me."

Nihlus nodded at that, "We have tracked down the location of the cell we believe is responsible, or working in concert to that of the Akuze cell. So Shepard are you in?"

She looked into those avian like eyes for a few moments before responding, "Yes I'm in, but I don't intend on leaving a single one of the bastards alive. My unit deserves that much, I deserve that much."

S&amp;S

If anyone is worried about Shepard being OC/SI level of broken don't worry. I just needed her to be competent so then she can be eclipsed in even more glorious ways!

Complaints, critiques, secret family recipes! Send them my way. Though it won't speed up my progress at all. And since this is a rewrite, thank you to everyone who read and liked the original variant. I hope this is an improvement.


	2. Always those we love

AN: Fact: Spectre was written that way to simply drive me insane.

The armor Nihlus acquires for Shepard is a black variant of Wasea's from ME 2. Nihlus' weapon also uses the traditional 'beep beep beep' heat-sink, rather than the human clip method.

This chapter has been given a moderate rewrite, I was mostly happy with it. Just needed to correct some accidental POV shifts that I noticed but just ignored, and tossed in a few new scenes. I don't intend on doing any rewrites after this, aside to fix errors.

Flashback song: Beautiful Life by Erik H Handberg

"Drop" song: Infinity Star by Katalyst

S&amp;S

She is fourteen years old, it is Armistice day. This was her first time attending the memorial on Arcturus, normally she was with Mom but this year Dad was the one off deployment.

Arcturus is humanities largest station, it also held the collective heart of the Systems Alliance. While Earth would always be prominent, it was in truth simply just a backdrop for politicians to stand in front of when they announced new policy. Arcturus was where the rest of the galaxy had to come to if they wanted to do business with Humanity, while the Sol system was not officially off limits, it was certainly unofficially off limits, except to a handful of dignitaries from other races. Hence why she found herself sitting on stage next to her father, listening to a visiting Asari talk about how the Alliance and Citadel Space would benefit from continued integration.

A position that everyone knew the following speaker, Admiral John Shepard, held in contempt.

Her father was quite frankly an isolationist, he felt that the Alliance should pull back in order to ensure they didn't get devoured by the council races. He only needed to point to the Treaty of Farixen, a document that had been proclaimed necessary for humanities integration into Citadel space. The document which denied humanity the fleet size it needed to defend it's own territories in his own opinion.

He had also been the major force behind the carrier project, the Alliance's biggest snub of council law thus far. The ships were the size of dreadnoughts, but thanks to the fact that they lacked the devastating apocalypse scale mass drivers that made those ships restricted it had enabled the SA to push their fleet size past the legally mandated sizes without actually breaking the letter of the law.

Mother on the other hand didn't often comment on the matter, but Shepard knew her mother had a deep and abiding distaste for Turians. She assumed it had to do with the first contact war but she honestly had never worked up the courage to ask.

A shift to her side broke her from her thoughts, she watched with pride as her father walked up to the podium. While the two of them didn't always get along, she was proud of how her father, unlike so many of the Admiralty, was willing to speak truthfully to the public about what worried him about the future of their species. She watched her father carefully straighten his dress whites before stepping up to the podium to speak.

"Thank you Matriarch Benezia for your words of wisdom, and cooperation. I know that some may be surprised to hear me express that opinion, given my rather outspoken political opinions on the matter. But I have nothing but the greatest respect for an individual of your stature, however, and of course there has to be a however in this instance. I still believe that it is not in the SA's best interests to fully integrate themselves into Citadel Space." He paused briefly, eyes scanning the crowd, gauging the mood of those in attendance. "When the Asari discovered the Citadel they were alone, when the Salarians soon after followed the two races found themselves closely matched and so decided upon a partnership. As other races followed they were inevitably eclipsed by the power and technology of the council races, as such they contented themselves with their embassies, beseeching to the council for intervention on their behalf."

"The Turians, already a formidable military force upon their contact with the Citadel, would earn their place in the modern day Triumvirate that is the Council through their actions in the Krogran Rebellions. This body has been in place since Europe was being reborn from the Dark Ages, and when the Song Dynasty in China was only beginning. I bring this up because we must remember that we are a young species to these stars, while these modern day Superpowers of the stars were given the ability to grow at their own pace, why should we be denied the same choice? Many would say we don't have one, that to deny the Council is to attempt to rewind the clock, that we cannot simply ignore the rest of the galaxy. My stance however is not to ignore the galaxy at large, but rather to simply ensure that we do not enter into an arrangement that our children, and our grandchildren will curse us for."

"But that is enough politics for today I think, I regret having to do this on the anniversary where we lost so many fine men and women. Both myself, and my Wife, who is currently on deployment, served in the war. We saw death rained down on us, from an enemy we even communicate with. But we also saw the beauty of the human spirit, good people, soldiers and civilians, who were willing to do whatever they felt would protect their loved ones. It is that spirit, that I would have us remember on this day. Thank you, and God protect the SA." Applause erupted throughout the room, the unofficial signal that the speeches were done, she began to look for a corner of the room to slide into as her father would be glad handing for quite some time.

"He is a very impressive public speaker isn't he." Evalyn jumped as the cool female voice came from behind her, whirling around she found herself staring up into the eyes of the Matriarch who had been speaking earlier. "What is your name child." she asked while she smiled at her.

Giving a small bow of her head, her parents insisted on her knowing how to not embarrass herself at these functions, she replied "Evalyn Shepard, honored Matriarch. Though please call me Eva if you prefer." Her mother had always used the pet name for her, and it had caught on to the point where she didn't even register that Evalyn was her name most of the time.

A laugh escaped the Matriarch's lips, it was a laugh full of mirth not mockery. "And so well behaved, sometimes I wish my own daughter had picked up even a modicum of social doctrine instead of insisting that she dig up the garden." A smile tugged at the young humans lips at the thought of some young Asari covered in dirt in some vast flower garden. "Tell me child, what do you think of this whole business with the Council and the Alliance?"

Shepard shot a quick glance towards where her father was, biting her lip as she debated whether or not to answer the Matriach. Benezia having noticed where she was looking leaned down towards her, whispering conspiratorially "I won't tell him if you don't."

"I think that we need the Council, but we don't want to admit it. I don't think we as a species likes to feel like we have no control, but for most the illusion of control is enough. But I know why my Dad is worried about the Council, I mean look at the Quarians they lose their planet, their embassy, and two hundred years later they still haven't come close to recovering. Or even the Batarians, I personally don't feel bad for them, but they disagree with the council on a single decision and they lose all their trade rights with everyone but the Terminus systems overnight. I just think he sees the worst case scenario, and I can't help but be proud of him for doing what he thinks will safeguard us." She frowned, wondering if she should add upon her statement, but a new voice cut in before she had made up her mind.

"Not trying to seduce my daughter over to the Citadel I hope Matriarch." Her father's voice was filled with humor, he openly encouraged her to think for herself, but she knew he was worried that she would end up with an alien when her Mother thought she was being entirely too interested when she finally met an Asari. Not that she would deny that she found them attractive, she also found human women attractive, and some guys.

The Matriarch smiled at her father before replying, "I was merely interested in your daughters opinions, you should be proud I've known some Asari who have lived for centuries who aren't half as aware of the state of the galaxy as your daughter." Eva could feel a blush cover her face from the compliment, glancing at the ground in the hope that her father and the matriarch wouldn't notice her.

Her fathers laughter though announced otherwise, "I think you've embarrassed her Matriarch, and yes I couldn't be any more proud of her. Though her mother would take most of the credit, she's who she got the brains from, and I am unfortunately away far too much. Though I do try to toughen her up some when I do get to see her" He gave her a playful shove with his shoulder, his smile only grew when she rolled her eyes at him.

The Matriarch gave a small nod, "Yes we must always cherish the moments we have with those close to us. We cannot always be there for those we love. It is an unfortunate fact." It felt more like an admission to herself, than a response to her father. But neither human thought it proper to comment.

"Perhaps later you could join us for a late Supper, I have a quick meeting to attend to. And this one lost solo-operation privileges after the last time, her mother even made me promise I wouldn't let her out of my sight. Last time she got loose on Arcturus she thought it would be funny to reprogram one of the Westerlund News camera droids to buzz alliance personnel." Eva's face which was still burning now felt like it was on fire, she mumbled more to herself than anyone else, "I was just teaching them to duck, it's a useful skill."

The Matriarch's smile only stretched further, "I would be honored to attend Admiral, but I will not detain you any longer." Her father nodded in return to the Asari, before looking at Eva.

"It was a pleasure speaking with you Matriarch. I hope we meet again." Eva bowed again, before she began to walk with her father out of the plaza.

She could hear the Matriarch's voice from behind her, "As do I young one."

They quickly caught an air taxi that brought them to one of the private military docks. A small shuttle sat on the dock, where a Lieutenant was waiting them. He walked up to meet them, snapping a salute which her father returned. "Sir, the others are gathered and waiting for you above the SSV Everest." Her father nodded, "Thank you Stevens," before turning to her. "Alright Eva, I want you to wait here with the Lieutenant. This will only take an hour or so, afterwards the day is yours to decide what you want to do. Then we'll meet up for Supper with the Matriarch." Eva frowned a little, she had hoped this meeting would be a short one, but apparently she wasn't that lucky. But her father always kept his word so she was willing to be patient.

Her father turned to the Lieutenant, "Stevens your job is very simple, keep her safe, but most importantly keep her out of trouble. You don't want to know the havoc she can cause with just an Omni-tool and boredom." The Lieutenant, Stevens she supposed was his last name, nodded with a smile to her father. "I will keep both eyes on her sir."

"I'll see you soon Eva," her father smiled as he walked down the dock to board the shuttle. She heard the core engage, then her entire world became nothing but silence, and pain.

S&amp;S

Shepard awoke with a start, seizing a pistol before she realized where she was. As realization of her location, Nihlus' ship, dawned on her, she shipped her pistol back on to her right leg. The Spectre's ship was a small Turian freighter, as such it looked like any number of them that roamed the black. Of course most of them didn't have military grade shields, and banks of hidden weapons. She shook her head, the nightmare lingering in the back of her mind. She had used to think that had been her "one bad day," she had lost her father, lost her eye, and the explosion of the eezo core of the shuttle had infused the nodes inside of her body. While it had turned her into a biotic, it had also irradiated her whole body, the doctors had quickly realized that her body would reject any cloned organs. Forcing her to rely on cybernetic replacements for any non-repairable damage her body endured.

Last time she checked she was at 29% cybernetic, idly she often wondered at what percent the soul got tossed out at. 50%, 75%, 99%? At what point are you no longer who you were, but something simply masquerading as a being which was now dead? Of course that hadn't stopped her from getting a modified Graybox of her own design installed, she wasn't prepared to risk her mind in some freak accident, so shortly before Akuze she had slipped off to Illium to have it installed while officially on shore leave. The "black box" as she called it could theoretically keep her entire consciousness running even if her body died. She preferred not to think of if this was her, or rather an A.I copy of herself, but they were questions she admitted would have to be answered eventually.

Heaving herself up from the bench she was lying on, she tossed the field blanket she had used off herself. The sound of footsteps announced Nihlus' coming before he entered the living quarters/armory. "You could have slept on the bed you realize, as much as I trust this V.I to fly I don't intend on getting blown up before we reach out destination." Shepard continued to stretch, ignoring the whir from her right arm, "I figured it would be rude, plus I've dealt with worse."

Nihlus merely nodded at this, "Indeed, now as I mentioned you are going to have to pose as an Asari. Which means Asari armor, now I know you prefer something heavier, so I managed to procure something other than Commando leathers for you." At his he punched in a code on one of the lockers, it swung open to reveal a black set of Asari armor, the plates where thick, but designed well enough that she didn't expect them to catch on each other like some cheaper designs.

She slowly pulled the armor apart, examining and testing the pieces. "It will do, but I'm going to have to modify the right gauntlet to work with, well my arm." Nihlus merely nodded, walking over to the small food prep area and opening up the Turian equivalent of a ration pack, they like the human ones were designed to flash cook themselves upon being opened. Ensuring that soldiers didn't need to eat the already disgusting things cold while in the field.

"As for weapons Shepard I can loan you something if you are in desperate need, but I can't acquire you anything like the Sabre you had before. The SA is very strict with allowing those weapons don't escape outside of their control." She shook her head at his question, "I'm good with what I have for now, unless you are expecting tanks? Are we expecting tanks?" The Turian chuckled as he sat down at the small table, "No tanks expected Shepard," and began to eat. And judging by his expression they were about as tasty as the human variant.

She took the right gauntlet over to the small armory/Omni-foundry and set herself to the task of integrating it with her arm. Asari armor used a different type of body glove from the human variant, forcing her to alter that as well. But it kept her mind busy, and quickly she was engrossed in the procedure, she was beginning to fit the shield emitters into the gauntlet when a loud bang caused her to jump and drop armor piece. She turned drawing her pistol only to find Nihlus had dropped two human ration packs on the small table that served as the eating area. "The fuck Nihlus" A popping noise announced that the emitter she had just hand fabricated had shattered, "And there goes two hours of work, there goes using my Omni-shield in this engagement."

The Turian simply gave his equivalent of a shrug, "The shield is useful but you need to get your strength back more than you need another gadget. Or did you forget that you passed out during out fight the other day. If I recall correctly human biotics require substantially more nourishment than is the norm for your species. And if we are going into combat together I need you at least better than you were yesterday."

As much as she wanted to argue with him she knew he was right, but at the same time she had been doing it because it was getting increasingly more difficult to not only control her biotics, but when they did work they were far stronger than she remembered them being. She had heard the doctors muttering that the explosion when she was fourteen had not only activated her nodes, but set the nodes within her body that weren't primed into a primed state. She supposed their hypothesis was that tertiary exposure from her actions on Akuze had activated the remaining primed nodes in her body. The problem was her amp wasn't properly anymore, despite the device being operationally fine. So she had taken to trying to keep her biotics under control by forcing her body to suppress them by dropping her calorie intact below the minimum.

But if these were the people who had been behind Akuze, why should she worry about losing control? She sat down at the table before looking up at Nihlus, "I think I might need a third one Nihlus." At this the Spectre merely nodded.

S&amp;S

"Our target is on the planet Porolan, it is in the Artemis Tau cluster. Now the planet has half again as much gravity than that of your planetary norm, and the planet has a level two extreme cold factor." The Spectre paused for a moment as he took a moment to adjust the scope on his Phaestrom, "Given the lack of civilians on the planet we are technically within our jurisdiction to simply hit the place from orbit. However, as Spectres we get all the fun jobs, which includes marching into a known hostile location, with both gravity and the cold trying to hinder us. It is likely that generators inside the base will keep gravity at a normal level."

"As the ship moves into the atmosphere it will act as though it is going in for landing motions on the far side of the planet to discharge it's drive. We in the meanwhile will be doing what is known as a hot drop." He shifted to pull out a crate that contained a backpack like device, as well as two smaller items seemingly designed to clip on to her boots. "These contain small mass effect generators, we will be jumping out of the ship as it flies over the base. And these," he patted the crate for emphasis, "Will hopefully deploy before we get intimate with the surface of that planet." They both quickly went to work ensuring they were both hooked up correctly, the V.I in the background informed them of their arrival within twenty five minutes. By the time she had done one final check of all of her gear they were down to ten minutes.

"Remember we don't have your code name yet, if this mission is successful we will have your new identity set up for your next mission, but it is paramount that your identity is not compromised." Shepard could only grimly nod to this. "Radio communications only once we begin the drop."

Nervousness permeated her being, she wasn't worried about the combat itself. She wasn't dulled from her time out of the field, instead she was more worried about whether or not she could keep in control. She still wasn't sure if she wouldn't have tried to kill Nihlus yesterday if she hadn't passed out, and going in to combat against the people who could be responsible for Akuze, well lets just say that she wasn't sure she should even bother caring about what happened to them.

As the V.I. Announced their arrival at the target zone the doors opened in the cargo bay, atmosphere whipped around the bay as she and the Turian Spectre hurled themselves from the ship. She locked her right hand around her rifle with a conscious command, not wanting a repeat of her fight with Nihlus, and steeled herself to not panic at the ground hurtling towards her.

"So you know, these things have quite the kick." The Turian's voice came over her helmet's radio. She merely grit her teeth, pain was nothing, especially when compared to the current alternative. She could now make out the prefab structure drilled into the surface of the planet, it looked like any other of the innumerable prefabs that dotted the universe, which she supposed was the point. The planet did have rich mineral deposits, anyone who detected the base would just assume they were early arrival prospectors. She could feel the panic begin to bubble in her stomach as the ground began to become uncomfortably close, at this point she could see the hidden GTS defenses, seems like Nihlus was right in that they didn't want to attract attention to themselves by shooting a seemingly normal freighter. At this point she was forcing herself through sheer willpower to not move, for fear of accidentally killing herself with this damned contraption. Finally, at about 10 meters above the ground, her body became enveloped in a biotic bubble suddenly arresting her downward momentum. It held for a few more meters before she fell the last four, landing heavily but still on her feet

"Well I'm not dead." She muttered to herself, she quickly advanced towards the base's entrance, the gravity was pulling at her but her armor was helping her to compensate for it. Nihlus was performing overwatch from his landing position which overlooked the prefab, while her part of the plan was to breach the door either via hacking or via more conventional manners. Speed was of the essence, so she went straight for a tactile connection with the doors interface through the connection in her gauntlet. While the difference was normally minimal between wireless and hard connections in this day and age, she would take whatever advantage she could take. Her hacking program began as soon as contact was established, and much to her surprise, and anger she found they were using a base encryption normally used by high level SA Special forces. She had personally written some of this code while she had been in N school, as such it was a simple matter to exploit her own code to gain an entrance in their systems. "Door breached Nihlus, moving forward to secure a entryway." She advanced quickly inside taking cover in the next to a door that led further into the facility. She triggered this door remotely, still taking advantage of the weakness in their system, and hurled the turret on her right arm inside the room.

"Duck, grenade!" She heard a male voice cry out from inside, she felt a grim smile appear on her face, finally, payback. Her micro-turret swiftly assembled itself engaging anyone in the room not marked as friendly, while it's feed into her systems enabled her to see the positions of her foes. There were four hostiles, two on the left, near here turret, and two on the right. All of them were behind cover, in light nondescript black armor. She overloaded the shields of the ones on the left, right as her turret opened up with it's flamethrower. The two men screamed as they found themselves engulfed in a torrent of heat, while Shepard leaned around the corner firing off an incinerate towards the men on the right, being engulfed in fire seemed to cause the poor excuses for soldiers to panic. Shepard almost lazily stepped out from her cover, drilling a pair of quick bursts into the two on the right, before swiveling and eliminating the surviving hostile on the left, he fourth was so much smoldering husk.

Nihlus jogged into the room, surveying her handiwork,"Good job, hopefully their defenses are all this shabby." Shepard merely nodded towards him, walking over to return her floating turret to it's position on her armor. They had limited power, so they needed her armor's generator to keep them charged. "Plan?" She looked towards the Turian, he walked over and took position on the left side of the door.

"You get this door open, assuming we meet opposition I'll advance while you provide aggressive support. Think you have enough juice to cover me with a barrier?"

Shepard answered, "I'll give it a shot, I've been having amp trouble since Akuze," as she moved over to the door, she went through the mnemonic gesture her mind associated with the ability. Nihlus, now enveloped by a blue field advanced, his rifle quickly spitting out rounds at the targets inside the room, Shepard quickly followed inside, the room was a fairly standard large rectangle with support pillars scattered throughout the room. Several power generators were scattered along the edges of the room, but very little in the way of actual cover. She quickly turned on one of their foes incinerating the man stupid enough to be standing near a set of power cells she overloaded, followed by dropping one more with a combination of incinerate and her Vindicator, while pulping a third into a bulkhead with a throw that was only meant to knock him out of cover. Nihlus had taken out five from a combination of his Phaestrom, and one very well placed frag grenade.

While he checked the rest of the room she found the GTS defense computer, which she quickly disabled, turning to look at the returning Nihlus who was grinning. "Guess no one taught these guys to not bunch up, I won't lie though I thought that this would be more heavily defended."

She stared at him, realizing where his thoughts were going, "You think they already bugged out, that these are just the cleanup crew." The Turian only nodded in agreement before gesturing towards a door further into the room. "If this building conforms to standard architecture like it has thus far there should be one, maybe two more rooms connected down that hallway." Shepard nodded and activated the door's lock as they approached, however no hostile fire came from the doorway. Instead they heard a voice call out, "I surrender."

Shepard glanced at Nihlus, who merely shrugged. The Turian shouted down the hallway, "If you are armed toss your weapons into this room, otherwise you will get to meet the same fate as your friends out here." Shortly thereafter a predator pistol came tumbling out the door, the man in the room was apparently pressed against the wall closest to them. Nihlus glanced at her, "I'll advance, you cover me." At this he quickly advanced down the hallway, before stopping at their new found friend. The Turian seems to check the room with his Omni before signaling her.

"Rooms clear, no traps or otherwise. See what you can pull off these computers, just try and ignore the crying human." Nihlus merely watched her as she advanced from terminal to terminal, finding as they had both suspected, them all to be wiped. As she reached the last one, finding it to be like the last of it's kind she lashed out smashing through the haptic interface with her right arm. "Empty?" Nihlus' question snapped her back to the situation, to which she could only sharply nod. The Turian stepped back from their sniveling friend, "He's not."

Shepard quickly advanced upon the man, the rage was at least working with her here. Quickly hoisting him up by the collar of his armor with her right arm, she slammed him into the wall. "Where is the rest of the equipment that had been here! There is no way that this is all the equipment here!" Her voice, slightly modified by the helmet was deeper than normal but carried her wrath all the same.

"I don't know, they just call me in to wipe the stuff that isn't worth taking with them." The pathetic excuse for a human tried to struggle against her.

"And what was in this 'stuff'?" For a moment she considered igniting him with the flamethrower of her turret, but she pushed that reaction down, giving in fully to her rage would get her nowhere.

"I don't look at it, do you know what they would do to me if I went snooping around in projects I'm not supposed to. I'm just a grunt, and grunts don't get to live long if they know too much." Shepard slammed him into the wall again, "You won't live too long unless you give me what I want!"

"Oh yeah, what are you going to do shoot me? That will be a mercy compared to what they will do to me." Shepard felt a smile spread across her face, "Kill you? No I think we'll drop you off on the far side of the planet. We'll make sure your armor is all sealed nice and tight, give you plenty of power cells to keep going and let you slowly waste away as this planet takes you apart piece by piece."

The coward quickly glanced towards Nihlus, "You can't do that, it won't even get you any intel." The Turian simply once again shrugged, "As a member of an avowed terrorist organization of the council you are essentially a non-person as far as Citadel conventions are concerned. Plus I think it could be fun, how long do you think he would last?."

"Three hours tops." Nihlus seemed to think on it for a few seconds, "I think he'd take his own helmet off, I don't think he's a fighter."

The man's already pale face drained even further, as he spluttered to try and save himself. "There, there, was one thing I did happen to take a peek at. It was damn odd, not standard communications but altered SA orders. Some Shepard chick was supposed to be transferred out of the marine platoon before they shipped off to Akuze. But apparently she never received the change of orders, seems that this really upset someone high up in the food chain. That is all I know I swear, I swear."

"Why would Cerberus have issued orders to get me out of Akuze!?" Shepard shouted at the man, denting the wall with the man's body. "I don't know, I don't know, I swear, it, it was just an after action report. Demanding to know who dropped the ball." The man whimpered.

She looked towards Nihlus, he shook his head "I don't know, could be that they planned on trying to recruit you. Or perhaps you have some connection that you aren't aware of. We assumed that someone in the Admiralty of the SA had ties to Cerberus." He sighed, "Well at least this wasn't a complete bust, good job." He turned away activated his omni, tapping in several commands, "Alright the ship has been called, slap a helmet on our friend there and lets-"

She drew her Carnifex, aiming point blank at the man's skull, two pulls on the body slumped to the floor. She turned to Nihlus noticing him watching her, "I blew my cover, his death was the only solution that maintained it." To her surprise he simply nodded, "Lets get back to the ship."

S&amp;S

The image of Sparatus, and Tevos came into view. "Will Councilor Valern be joining us?" At that Tevos shook her head, "He was forced to attend to a visiting Dalatrass, though he did say he was looking forward to reading your report."

"Now that pleasantries are over what is your recommendation Kryik? You know that Saren is already making noise about this, so was the mission a success?" Nihlus knew that Sparatus had no actual problems with humanity itself, but it was a very popular position in the Hierarchy. As such he was often forced to take the hardliner stance when it came to humans.

Nihlus nodded, "The base was already stripped of most of it's essentials before we even arrived in system. But she performed admirably under combat, and managed to extract information from a Cerberus operative that surrendered to us. It disclosed an unknown connection between Shepard, and someone operative relatively high in the SA command structure who has ties to Cerberus This should enable us to narrow our investigation considerably"

"And the state of this captive?" Tevos inquired of the Turian Spectre, "Eliminated in order to keep Shepard's cover intact. She inadvertently revealed herself when he informed her of a transfer order to get her out of the Akuze incident. In her defense the blame lies with me, I should have taken Vasir up on her offer to get Shepard better in tune with her cover before sending her into the field."

Tevos glanced over at Sparatus, the older Turian sighed, "Do you believe that she herself is not Cerberus, bear in mind Kryik that this is you putting your entire future in her fate." Nihlus could only nod, his gut told him that she was a risk worth taking. "I believe that if there is a connection between her and Cerberus, that she is truly in the dark about it."

Tevos nodded, "Very well then, Shepard will be your official trainee from now on. The human embassy will be informed shortly that you have taken on an Asari by the name of Mirix Varan. While we, and whomever other Spectres who will assist in her training will be aware of her actual identity, Shepard as an individual will be provided with a cover for her human identity to hide her activities. Please congratulate her on our behalf Nihlus." With that the connection ended, Nihlus let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

"Mirix Varan, kind of wish they had let me pick my own secret agent name but I guess I'll get used to it." Shepard's laughter echoed through the room as he tumbled out of his chair.

S&amp;S

Hannah Shepard opened the door to admit whomever was calling at this inopportune moment. Surprisingly however it was Miranda on the other side of the door, "Miri what are you doing here," she reached out grabbing the woman and pulling her quickly inside. "This is Arcturus, what could be so important that you needed to break protocol?"

The beautiful, if broken woman in front of her simply activated her Omni-tool, sending the file to Hannah's Omni. "One of our clean up teams were wiped out, Agent Walkers eye implant captured the assailants in action. One of them was Nihlus Kryik, the other was well, watch the file Hannah."

Hitting play she watched Kryik stand guard over Walker, while a figure resembling an Asari prowled around the room. She listened to them interrogate the man, but it wasn't until the very end that she understood what Miranda had been worried about enough to break protocol. "Why would Cerberus have issued orders to get me out of Akuze!?" She felt herself start to tumble, but the younger woman managed to direct her to fall into a nearby couch. "Eva, what have you gotten into."

S&amp;S

"You can't do this!" The sound of Udina's voice filled the room.

There were not many days that Valern truly enjoyed his job.

"This is an outrage! I will not stand for this!"

But today was one of those days. So nice of Tevos to let him swing by and do this after dropping off the Dalatrass.

"Do you have any idea how much of a fool this makes me look like councilor!"

At this Valern's face broke into a very uncustomary grin, "Yes."

S&amp;S

AN: This chapter was originally going to contain young Shep's recovery following the explosion. But I couldn't really work that into the whole nightmare scenario, so I cut it out. It's still sitting written on my hard drive, so I'm sure I'll work it in eventually. I noticed a while ago that in the time line it notes that Shepard was exposed again to eezo when she was fourteen, so I just needed to work it in, apparently in the most emotionally crippling method I could come up with...

In case some are wondering no I'm not shipping Shep and Nihlus, he is simply trying to give her the same opportunity that Saren gave him (the Spectre training, not the bullet in the back of the head).

Shepard's Asari cover name was randomly selected from an Asari name generator, I do not have the patience to think up crazy alien names with hidden depths meaning. Tevos opened up a phone book, or future space equivalent, and picked two names at random.

This rewrite was pretty small compared to the absolute overhaul I gave to chapter 1. Fixed some minor flow errors, aligned it with chapter 1 2.0, made the last (now second to last) segment less obscure, and added in Valern and Udina (the Citadel's latest comedy duo!).


	3. Shepard's last hurrah

AN: Firstly if you came directly to this chapter go back! Both chapters 1 and 2 have been rewritten. Chapter one is essentially entirely redone, and has some plot important changes to it. While I added several new scenes to chapter 2, one of which is important, one of which was for fun.

I also spent way too much time trying to find out if an actual name for any Asari language exists. As far as I can tell, nope. Seems like a bit of an oversight in my opinion but moving on.

Song: All I Need (Acoustic) by Within Temptation

S&amp;S

Shepard was currently sitting in a transport on it's way to Illium, while she had been accepted under a provisional basis into the training program. It had been decided that she would need to start, and finish, her deep cover Asari training before she continued. As such Nihlus had been assigned a mission, stating that he would be in touch once it was over. Though he had told her that she would find Vasir to be, unique.

Officially she was being sent to Illium to have a new amp installed before she started her new 'job' as a security consultant on an advanced scout vessel for the Council. There was a constant push to discover new worlds, and it meant that she would, on paper, be away from habitable space for long stretches of time.

Her Omni pinged, it was Anderson, again. She'd been ducking him for a few days now, but given that he had probably heard the news she decided to bite the bullet answer. "Hello Captain, and how are you doing today?"

"Don't give me any of that Eva you know why I'm calling, what is this about you joining some scout crew for the council. I had to heard about it from Udina of all people, which meant that your Mother had to hear it from me, via Udina, and you know the woman prefers at least a three person buffer between her and him." Shepard sighed, but she felt the small smile on her face.

Anderson was essentially the reliable Uncle that every family was lucky to have, "Look lets just not talk about Mom right now. Things are still raw there, as for my job, I just need to get away for a little bit. I just think that if I can get enough distance between myself and the Alliance that I can understand what happened, but it's not working. So ya, maybe I'm running, at least for a little while. I don't have any real hopes for returning to the Alliance, but well it hurts to have what you always wanted ripped from you like that."

She could practically see his expression, the same one he had when he heard them discharge her. He was angry at the organization he had called home for most of his life, but unwilling to allow it to show. "I know that things went, sideways, after Akuze. But Eva, you need to talk to your Mother before you go, I don't know why she did what she did but trust me, she's hurting too."

She could feel the tears beginning to form in her eyes, "Look I won't promise anything, but I'll try. I love you Uncle Dave." She quickly shut down the link so that he wouldn't hear her sob, even still her voice had caught at the end.

"God dammit won't this blasted shit go any fucking faster!"

S&amp;S

Illium, or as she called it Omega with a janitorial staff, was a planet that sat right on the edge of Council space. Not officially a Council world, but so far from the heart of the Terminus that it was protected from most of the lawlessness. It was also one of the primary bases of Tela Vasir, she was known for getting results, though the means of how she achieved those results was the focus of many rumors. She was commonly assumed to either have a very high working relationship with the Shadow Broker, or that she was simply directly employed by him in addition to the Council. Truthfully she didn't care, most Spectres had side interests that they used their authority to pursue.

Vasir's base was hidden inside an Armali Council office, whether this was by serendipity or a scary degree of planning this was also where her new amp was to be installed. Entering the lobby she was soon escorted by a much too chatty Maiden, who was going on about how pretty Humans were with their hair, and blah blah blah. Hear the same lines so many times you just tune them out, plus the moment her gloves came off, literally, and people saw her arm they tended to lose any interest real quick.

They turned a corner to find an elderly Matriarch waiting for them, her eyes shifted to the Maiden, "Leave." The addressee quickly scampered away, the eyes now firmly fixed on her simply starred at her for a few moments. "Follow." And with this she whirled away, her dress masking her legs making her appear to float down the hall.

"Before you begin your training with Spectre Vasir you will need to undergo a full medical scan and diagnostic. We must ascertain what is the cause of your sudden inability to control your, rudimentary, biotics. This is not a negotiable term, if you are not willing to accept it then I suppose we could just have a real Asari take your position."

She turned and stopped at the entrance of a hallway that contained four large metal doors. "First we must ensure out date is accurate, how many times have you been exposed to element zero, you may be more familiar to it under the term 'eezo.'"

I'm going to kill this woman, "Surely, this is all in my medical file you were sent."

"How many times have you been exposed to element zero, I have infinitely more time than you to waste . But by all means squander some more by not answering my simple questions."

"Fine, christ, three times."

"Age, and nature of the exposures."

"In Utero, that by the way means I was still in the womb, due to a transport collision in the Arcturus docks. Fourteen, the drive core of a shuttle I was near went nova. And last year, I detonated a downed landing crafts core to take out a Thresher Maw. I manged to get out of the blast radius, but not the radiation."

The Matriarch merely nodded, "Excellent, enter the first door on the left and disrobe. If you are squeamish about showing your body you may wear those undergarments your species is so fond of. Then return to me."

Shepard walked into the room she mentioned, it was filled with numerous rows of lockers. So she just picked an empty one at random, and placed her clothes in it. She wasn't getting naked though, Asari stared at her enough as is.

Returning to the Asari with no name, she figured she shouldn't have been surprised when all she was told was "Follow" once again.

They soon entered into a room that was dominated by a metal slab, with numerous instruments she couldn't even guess the purpose of, let alone recognize them.

"Do not move, you will feel a sharp spike of pain." Before Shepard could ask why she suddenly felt a jolt at the back of her skull.

"The fuck was that!" She whirled at the Asari, who was holding her amp in her hands. "We needed to remove this so that we can do the diagnostic. Now lay down on the table."

As Shepard slid on to the table the Asari continued, "This device will perform several tests to determine how your body has changed since your tertiary exposure to element zero. If it is warranted the council has authorized me to create a new amp. Hold still." The Asari approached her, picking up a small lead from the table with several wires trailing from it, she tilted Shepard's head to the side and inserted it into her now empty amp slot.

"This will enable us to find out the manner in which your nodes and nervous system are currently working. This test shall also determine how many nodes you currently have active in your body, as well as if there exist any more of these hypothesized 'primed' nodes that your human colleagues claim existed." She began to leave the room before pausing in the door frame, "I forgot to mention that due to the integrated nature of your cybernetics you can expect some negative feedback from them. I have been told that it is rather, unpleasant."

The door quickly shut behind her, then without warning Shepard assumed the test started. Mostly because it felt like she had been doused in gasoline and lit on fire. After an unknown amount of time the pain ended, and her favorite Asari returned. She walked over to Shepard and pulled the lead out from her implant, before walking over to several unlit interfaces and waving her Omni at one, an image of what Shepard assumed was her, appeared on the screen.

"According to your file it appears that while Akuze did activate some additional nodes in your body, the most crucial change was that most of your nodes integrated themselves deeper into your nervous system. Your human amp is designed for accepting only the most basic of signals, incapable of translating these impulses from the other signals in the nervous system. There also appear to be several small, but inactive nodes scattered throughout your body, perhaps it is simply a genetic fluke, or serendipity but further exposure could potentially prime these nodes. Though that is not recommended."

"It is rather remarkable really, that you managed to survive so many exposures with such little negative effects to your body as a whole. I must assume the Alliance is attempting to recreate the conditions in future generations of biotics, after all there are just so many of you. Regardless you may leave now, there is a bunk room across from where you stored your clothes." When Shepard didn't immediately follow her orders she quickly huffed at the human. "Leave, you shall receive your amp when I am done with it." With a shrug Shepard padded off into the facility.

The building itself was almost maze like, but thanks to the Graybox Shepard had installed last time she was here she could technically never forget anything unless she chose to. Pulling back on her clothes she slipped across the hall, finding several empty bunks she promptly collapsed into the nearest one. Closing her eyes in a vain, but hope filled attempt to fall asleep quickly she heard someone shift on one of the other bunks.

"Goddess, I thought that bitch Sendris was never going to let you come out and play." Turning her head to look at who was talking to her she spied an Asari with darker purple markings around her face and crest. The Asari waved, "Tela Vasir, I am here to teach you how to be a badass, and look good while doing it." Before Shepard could speak Vasir raised her hands in a calming gesture, "Now I'm sure you are twelve levels of badass, but you are now playing the part of an Asari Spectre. That means you need to talk, act, fight, and yep even walk like an Asari. Now for most I wouldn't think they could pull it off, but apparently your are some weird hybrid super genius, killing machine so if anyone can pull it off I figured it would be you."

Shepard pulled herself up into a sitting position, "Alright, when are we going to start?"

Vasir simply smirked, before shouting "Training begins now!" Next thing she knew everything was going hazy, though she vaguely recalled Vasir's voice in the background saying, "What do you mean you removed her fucking amp for the scan!"

S&amp;S

Her first few days were mainly focused on simply how to move, Asari tended to not rush while not engaged in combat. Movements were planned, but not rushed, giving them and undeniable grace. Though Vasir was very insistent that her walk was still wrong, "I told you for the last time Vasir, I am not going to avoid attention with the wrong walk, simply so that I can have everyone stare at my ass instead." The Asari merely smiled, "Come on Shepard, as Spectres it is our job to use every advantage we have. And lets both admit, that your ass is a very, very large advantage."

"Vasir, just freaking show me how to walk and not look like one of the dancers in Chora's Den." Vasir perked up at that, slowly prowling up to her, before leaning in uncomfortably close to whisper into Shepards ear, "Now why would a nice girl like you be in such a dirty place like Chora's." Shepard felt hands that were definitely not hers land on her ass, she released an aggravated sigh she had been holding back. Reaching back she grabbed the Asari's hands and firmly pulled them away. "Walking, sans stripper. Now!" Vasir walked around grumbling something that sounded an awful lot like "spoilsport" under her breath.

The next few days were focused mainly on cultural aspects of Asari life that would have been drilled into her head were she actually an Asari. Thanks again to her Graybox this was a fast process, though learning the primary trade language used by many Asari, New Armalian, was painful if only because she had to learn not only the language, but also to adopt the Illium accent so as to not give herself away as a non-native speaker.

"Goddess Shepard this isn't something you can learn from a book, I need you out there actually listening to people talk, watching how they move, none of which you can do sitting around here." Vasir activated her Omni briefly, "I just uploaded you directions to a bar I know, part of your training now is to go there for a few hours every night. Observe, interact, learn to actually act like you are from here."

S&amp;S

And so she found herself at a nearby bar run by a Matriarch of all things. Mostly she stuck back, observing, occasionally conversing with those who initiated it with her, or with Aethyta the Matriarch. Always on the watch for telltale gestures, local pronunciations, odd local flavor words, things she knew that would be necessary for her to excel in her new profession.

It was on her fourth day though that something changed. It had started off normal enough, "Back again kid, while I'm flattered I think you should know I'm too old for you." Shepard smirked back at the crass Matriarch, "Nice to see you too Aethyta, just what I usually get please." The Matriarch turned her back for Shepard, giving him a chance to scan the room. It wasn't as busy as usual, only a single group was on the elevated platform reserved for parties, and a few couples sat scattered about the room. A single lone Asari in the back had her nose in a datapad, which was unusual. Hearing the clink of a glass she turned back to the bar, finding herself starring at two drinks. "Um, Aethyta. I know you say I don't drink enough but unless this is on the house I'm not paying for a drink I didn't order."

The Matriarch let out a huff, "It's not for you, its for Liara, the Asari in the back, with the datapad." Shepard just nodded, glancing at the Maiden in the corner again, noticing that she had a series of marks around her eyes that looked vaguely like freckles. "Okay, then why are you giving her drink to me."

Aethyta did the Asari variant of a face palm, muttering to herself, "I thought you claimed that you were intelligent." Gesturing towards Liara she spoke more forcefully, "Look that girl up there has no life, she bounces from dig to dig because it makes her think she didn't get her doctorate just to tick off her mother. This is her last night here, and you aren't half bad, for a human at least. Plus you said you were smart so I thought you could connect with her, starting to doubt you on that one now." Shepard just blinked at her a few times, "Are you setting me up." The Asari huffed almost explosively, "No! I'm setting her up. I mean sure you aren't hard to look at, but aside from the fact that you pay on time I could take you or leave you. Just do a Matriarch a favor will you."

Shepard took another glance towards Liara, "You're lucky I have a soft spot for freckles." She grabbed the two glasses and slipped off towards the Maiden, hearing Aethyta's mumbling in the background "Freckles, what in Athame's tits is she even talking abo-."

Reaching the table the Maiden was sitting at Shepard was unsure of how to approach, she decided to simply be straightforward, because if she was being honest she hadn't really been in a relationship since she enlisted. Flings here and there, occasionally just grabbing some random person while on shore leave, but nothing of any substance. She wasn't expecting this to turn into some epic tale of true love, but she didn't want to approach this as she would have before. She'd be the first to admit that Akuze made her realize just how few people she had in her life, and that number had only diminished since then. So maybe she would let this play out, she wasn't planning on missing out on opportunities for happiness, even if they were dropped into her laps by cranky matriarch's.

"Hi, um, my name's Shepard would you mind if I sat down?" The Asari had apparently not noticed her at all, as she dropped the datapad to the table while letting out a noise that Shepard found adorable. Her eyes were wide as she stammered a little, "W-Why would you want to sit down here, there are plenty of other unoccupied tables." And Aethyta called me oblivious, she slid the drink across the table to Liara before responding "I saw you all alone here, and thought you might like some company."

Liara looked at the glass as though she had handed her a grenade, "Aethyta put you up to this didn't she, she's the only one who knows that I drink this." Her voice had an edge to it that Shepard didn't expect from the person she just caused to squeak from fright. Shepard fidgeted slightly, "Um is there any answer to that question that doesn't end up with me getting hit with a singularity." Goddess she wished that new amp of her's was done, but oh no they had to make sure that the monkey tech didn't interfere with the beauty of the device. It was an amp, who gave a damn what it looked like!

Liara gave a small smile, "Yes there may be a way, please sit down Shepard. We are going to sit here, talk a little. You will finish your drink, and then leave, afterwards Aethyta and I will have yet another chat on this subject. I swear she thinks something is wrong with me just because I'm not obsessed with sex. Is it so odd that I simply like my work, and in between digs is the only time I really have to work on my theory. So, as you are my hostage, I will allow you to chose the topic of conversation. It seems only fair."

Shepard nodded in agreement, "So, ah, I know you have a doctorate, what did you study?" Liara smiled slightly, "Archaeology, my primary focus is on the Protheans." Shepard mulled that over, it wasn't all that surprising. There was always a calling for more Prothean tech, Archaeology was even more lucrative now than it had been when it was little more than treasure hunting back on Earth.

"So what is this theory of yours about?" Liara rolled her eyes a little, "I'm sure you are just being polite." Shepard shook her head to disagree, "Alright, but I confess you will probably find it terribly dull." That caused Shepard to smile, she laughed a little before replying "Trust me Doctor, um I just realized I don't know your last name."

"T'Soni"

"Trust me Doctor T'Soni, I could stand to have some dullness in my life."

Liara sighed, "Alright but bear in mind this is just a theory, but I believe that the relays, even the citadel itself was not constructed by the Protheans. That they were one in a number of species who have used them and just vanished in a, a," She seemed to pause as if forgetting how to finish, Shepard cautiously decide to pipe in, "Like a cycle?" Liara's eyes lit up, "Yes! Exactly, it is a kind of galactic cycle, a civilization rises up, and then it vanishes. There just isn't much evidence to support it, but I swear I can see the pattern, it is simply convincing anyone else of it that is the difficult part."

Shepard leaned back in her seat, musing on what the Asari had said. Accessing whatever she could remember of the Protheans and their history. "So I can only see two options for this cycle, either some force or event has caused these species to be wiped out and leave little trace behind. Or that they reached some type of technological ascendance, I personally think that would make some level of sense. I mean what would be the point of some malevolent force just waiting out there to wipe out technologically advanced species."

Liara nodded quickly, "I agree, perhaps there are still clues to lead us to what happened to them in some other ancient structure. Goddess, I've never had someone actually listen to my theory without mocking it, or falling asleep. Tell me Shepard are you an academic yourself? I've met few outside of my own profession that would know anything about the Protheans, aside for the fact that they had incredibly advanced technology."

Shepard shook her head, "No, I was until recently an Alliance Special forces member, but well that life is over with I suppose. I'm here getting outfitted for a new amp, before I ship out with a planetary scout for the Council. I'll be gone for a few years, but I was burned pretty bad when I left the Alliance and I think that getting some distance will help me to heal. Plus I always wanted to go on some grand adventure into the unknown, always seemed kind of romantic I guess."

Liara softly smiled back, "I too find the isolation can be a welcome solace from, well, lets just say that I can understand the appeal. I am looking forward to when I can start doing solo digs myself, a chance to do my job as I feel I should, not in the way most expedient to the university."

The two of them continued to make small but pleasant conversation, several more rounds of drinks came and went, none of them ordered or paid for. Liara who had been glancing at her gloved hands finally, tentatively, shyly even, broached the subject, "Shepard why are you wearing gloves? Unless you don't want to tell me." Before Shepard could answer Liara continued to babble on, "I offended you didn't I. Goddess I'm such an idiot." The Asari buried her head in her hands, though Shepard could make out a mumbled, "I'm sorry."

Shepard reached across the table, placing her left hand on Liara's arm, ignoring the thumbs up Aethyta was giving her in the background. "You didn't offend me Liara, and yes there is a reason why I wear these gloves." She withdrew her left hand, reached over and tugged the glove off of her right. Liara's eyes widened at the sight of the artificial limb, "I won't be offended if you aren't interested anymore." Shepard had learned the hard way that many people, especially those raised in Council space found cybernetic augmentations to be distasteful, even more so if the cybernetic wasn't covered up to resemble a natural limb.

However Liara's eyes held nothing but apt interest, "I've never seen such an advanced prosthetic, is it just your hand?" Shepard only mutely shook her head, "Fascinating, do you, feel with it? If someone touched it could you feel them?" She once again could only mutely nod. A small shy smile crept across Liara's face, "May I?" Goddess, this can't be real Shepard thought. She slowly extended her hand towards Liara, who slowly placed her hand on top of her own. She ran her fingers over the knuckles of the hand, causing it to twitch slightly, "Goddess, I've never seen a replacement limb that is so advanced. Whomever made it must be truly gifted."

Shepard's face burned up, a combination of the liquor and the unintended compliment. "Well if you wanted to you could always just tell her personally?" Liara's face quirked in confusion, before Shepard smiled widely, "I designed, and built it Liara. Same with my eye, the not, not red one." Liara's face was a mix between amazement, and utter confusion. "You built them?" Shepard's lips quirked from a smile to a smirk "Yep!"

"And you were in the military why? I mean this arm alone is a masterpiece of modern technology, and I don't even want to get into the fact that you have what looks to be a normal looking eye that you can is artificial. So I take it red is not a normal human eye color, or different shades?"

"No, yes, what I mean is it is rare but there are some cases. As for the pigment, well turns out the lenses I made can't have their color changed. So I stuck with it, because it hurt to put that in, easily the fourth worst experience I've had pain wise."

"Alright you two! Either shack up or get out, I need to close and I can't keep watching this will they or won't they shit!" Aethyta's voice drew their attention to the deserted nature of the bar, Shepard feeling very bold offered her hand, the cybernetic one, to Liara.

"I'm bunking at the Armali Council building, so if you want to whisk me away to your hidden love nest Doctor T'Soni I promise I won't put up much of a fight."

For a long moment she feared that Liara would decline, but then a look of determination came over her as she grasped Shepard's hand. "I'd be delighted to Shepard."

S&amp;S

Shepard woke to the angry buzzing in her ear that signaled she had an incoming call. Grumbling she activated the Omni, "Ya," her voice was rough from the night she had with Liara. "Shit Shepard, did you actually go out and make me proud for once. I'll make a heart breaking vixen of you yet. OOOH, is that her in the back, she's absolutely delicious looking, and so young too! Shepard! You try to act all prim and proper but I knew you had it in you! I'm so proud, almost like my own daughter is coming into her own, you think she's into threewa-," Shepard disconnected the call.

Growling she sent Vasir a message, "What did you actually need?" Vasir's reply appeared shortly after, "Bitch is done with your amp, few more days of training then you will be cleared to go. Also send me pictures!"

Shepard just shut down the Omni, it really wasn't worth the pain to fight with Vasir at this moment. Liara shifted beside her, causing Shepard to glance down at the young Asari. She did like Liara, but Liara knew Shepard, who was officially going to be gone for two years. She sighed, standing up and beginning the process of finding her clothes.

Having achieved success in that goal she slipped back into the bedroom, "Liara, come on wake up." The doctor merely grumbled in her sleep, Shepard thought of an idea though "Miss T'Soni, wake up." Liara's face seemed to frown at that, she mumbled "Doctor T'Soni," while her eyes groggily opened. Then shot awake when she realized the situation she was in, "Shepard! Goddess, what is going on." Shepard sat down on the edge of the bed, "Liara, we need to talk. I'll admit I like you, but well your heading off to you dig today. I'm leaving for two years in just a few days, if you were interested I could send you a data packet every week. We will be too far out for comm buoy but we will be dropping a preliminary communication web behind us as we move. I mean this is only if you were interested, um, are you?"

Liara's face seemed to light up, "Yes Shepard, I would be delighted to. And maybe once you are back we can, well, with the bed, and the" she faded off as her blush seemed to have taken all the blood from her brain. Shepard leaned in close, kissing her softly on her lips. "Ya, I enjoyed our night too." She leaned her forehead against Liara's for another few moments, before whispering "Until next time Doctor." She slipped out of the room quickly, because she knew if she stayed she might do something that she would regret. Leaving her Omni's contact information downstairs on a table, she slipped outside and hailed a taxi.

S&amp;S

The installation of the amp had been quick, painless, and thankfully sans Sendris. A few simple exercises lead to her realizing how different her biotics behaved now. Before she was limited to shielding herself, or a body part to augment a strike, and a light throw now and then. Vasir had explained to her that while she wasn't commando strong, the finesse that she could theoretically reach now was substantially increased. She soon found that she had a knack for stasis fields, but still didn't have enough juice to pull off the more potent biotic attacks.

She did start to draw up new plans for a new integrated whip like weapon. She planned on using a series of disks that she would manipulate via her biotics, the disks themselves would be enveloped in an electrical field powered by her armor. Enabling her to incapacitate her targets with it, plus it would look badass in her opinion.

She had spent the next several days practicing combat drills with some commando friends of Vasir's. They had quickly come to the conclusion that she would never pass off as a commando, but Vasir suggested she imply that she had Eclipse ties. Eventually however she was deemed 'competent enough at ass shaking' to be cleared to meet up with Nihlus.

"Thank you Tela, I do appreciate the training. The comments, and the groping, not so much." Vasir merely smirked, "How about you come over here, you now, for old times sake." Shepard merely laughed, but didn't move an inch. "I think I'll pass, guess this is it until I find myself at this shore again." Asari terms were creeping ever more into her dialogue, which she supposed was the point of a cover, but she still found herself stopping every now and then to think about it.

"Oh look at you, talking like a big girl and everything. But, in all seriousness Shepard watch yourself. I don't want to go another six hundred years and never get to see that ass again."

Shepard didn't reply as she stepped on to the waiting transport, she quickly stowed her gear above her seat before settling down into her seat. She opened up her Omni, and after a moment of hesitation began to write her first message to Liara.

S&amp;S

AN: This chapter was well a pain, I wrote most of it out by hand while at work. Then rewrote the whole thing as I was transcribing it, I still have no idea why Vasir turned out the way she did. But I just could not write her any differently.

And yes the cut before the sexiness was intentional, I don't have anything against people writing about sex. I just personally won't, plus I think it would have killed the whole vibe I was going for to cut into some raunchy sex scene. Though Aethyta would approve I suppose.

Thanks to those who have reviewed, and followed.


	4. I hate dogs

AN: Thanks to all those who have followed/favored the story thus far. Though if anyone has any complaints or critiques of my style please do tell. I'm not sure how long this story will be before I transition into ME 1, but I'm aiming between 12-16 chapters. That could all go flying out the window though, who knows.

Also I'm looking to commission someone for a cover image. Anyone have some suggestions?

Songs:

Pre-Fight: The Best I Can, by Miracle of Sound

Fight: Red Alert 3 Credit Song by Mikael Sandgren

S&amp;S

The journey to the Citadel had been an entirely normal affair, her message to Liara had been short, merely checking to see if she knew where the location of her next dig would be. Despite the night they had shared together their connection was little more than that of a passing acquaintance, a situation that Shepard wished to rectify. Perhaps it was simply the fact that they both were two lonely people, or that she hadn't been with anyone in such a long time, but she felt an urge to deepen the link between the two of them. She wouldn't however put her position in the Spectres at risk for Liara, or at least not at this present juncture. Perhaps time would change her priorities but for now the chance to make a difference on a galactic scale, as well as gaining some small measure of satisfaction from taking down those responsible for the implosion of her life, took precedence.

She had contacted Bailey, explaining to him her situation and that she would no longer need his men watching her place. She would miss her apartment, but she couldn't very well use it when she was supposed to be beyond scouted space. Approaching her door her Omni automatically synced with the program she had installed into the door, a status indicator flashed into her cybernetic eye, informing her that someone had broken into her apartment. She slipped her pistol hidden in her sleeve down into her hand, the program indicated that whomever had opened the door had not used it to exit the room. So they were either still inside, or had escaped via some other means. Activating the door remotely she spun into the room, leveling the pistol at the form in the room. The woman whose back was turned to her slowly spun to face her, the face an older mirror of her own.

"Really Eva, the pistol is a bit melodramatic don't you think?" Hannah Shepard stood in the middle of her apartment, a frown, which was an almost perpetual part of her after the death of her Father, etched upon her face. Her form was fit, something that she attributed to her military service and her denial of letting age slow her down, though white was beginning to streak her blonde hair in places. She was in her 'casual' outfit, which consisted of a red and white flight suit modified to act as light armor by the inclusion of several armored plates. Over which she had tossed on a black cloth coat, and combat boots similar to Eva's own. Though as a military officer she was entitled to carry a personal weapon on the Citadel, the form of her battered Predator Mk. II, that Eva had upgraded numerous times over the years, sat on her hip.

Shepard contemplated a moment of simply leaving the room, but her Mother had come to her, and she couldn't in good conscience ignore the gesture. Somewhat sheepishly she slipped her pistol back into her sleeve, ignoring the raised eyebrow the action generated from her Mother. "I thought you were still on Arcturus, waiting to receive your new posting?"

Hannah nodded at this, "Yes, and I still would be if Anderson didn't call me to tell you what you were planning. Tell me Eva, when did you intend to let me know that you were going to disappear for two years? Was it before or after you were off past the known edges of the galaxy?" Her Mother sighed, "You may disagree with my decision, but I am still your Mother, and you and I both know that I deserved a better goodbye than a hasty message after you hit the last relay." Her Mother's voice hitched at the end, "Christ Eva, I only did what I did because I thought it was for the best. You had become obsessed, paranoid, you accused me! Of trying to cover up the death of your men, how could I knowingly say that I felt you were fit to serve when you thought I could ever risk any harm coming to you?"

Eva's temper flared at the same tired argument, "How about the fact that you told me to drop it! The woman who raised me would never have told me to simply walk away from the death's of my men, to simply let things lie! Where was this reasoned compassion as I had to explain to every one of those families that their sons and daughters were dead, and then I had to turn around and lie to them about why they were dead. That they didn't die as heroes answering a distress call from a colony, but instead were lured in a deliberate trap!"

Feeling the steadily building rage reach a critical point she spun slamming her fist into a nearby wall, the cybernetic arm leaving an impression behind in the steel. Her voice slipped out in a whisper, "Where were you when I was piecing myself back together. When Dad died you were there in an instant, helping me, supporting me, but after Akuze. Nothing, I, I couldn't get a hold of you for nearly three days after I woke up, then when I finally did get in contact with you I didn't see you for another week. WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU!" Her voice filled the room with her fury, as she returned her gaze to her Mother she could see tears running down the older woman's face.

"I was trying to find out what happened Evalyn, I used every bit of political capital I had. And I was stonewalled at every turn, that, that doesn't happen without dangerous implications." She let out a shuttered breath, before continuing. "Eventually I was approached by someone, they informed me that if you kept digging, kept pushing the brass, that Akuze wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen to my Daughter. So yes! I backed down, I already lost your Father, and the thought of losing you, it broke me Eva. So I did what I did knowing that you would hate me, but I would rather you hate me! I would prefer that you hate me till the end of your days, as long as you get to reach them." Hannah took in another shaky breath, "So yes, I did something terrible, but I have the solace of knowing that I had the right reasons behind it!" Hannah's eyes mirrored the same blaze in her Daughter, both of the Shepard women found themselves unable, or unwilling to further antagonize the other.

Finally Hannah sighed, "I didn't come here to fight, I'm not going to argue against you going on this adventure of yours. But if you think we can go and have a civil dinner than can you at least let me have that before you leave." Shepard hesitated, before gave a small nod of agreement, Hannah continued, "Good, because our reservation is in half an hour. You took longer than I expected getting back here."

Eva tossed her bag on to the bed before they moved outside to a nearby terminal to call a taxi. Both of them attempted to ignore the increasingly awkward atmosphere that had descended, which only became more oppressive as they clambered inside the vehicle. Hannah cracked first, "Your door program was sloppy, I could have bypassed it easily."

Eva's jaw tightened a little at the criticism, "I'm sorry but I've been a little distracted as of late. Plus if I had gone full Alcatraz on the door it would have simply drawn attention, something that if you hadn't noticed I've been trying to avoid."

Hannah's face was taught, she was angry but Eva had no idea over what. "Yes very subtle. Tell me since when did subtle involve getting drunk on the Citadel, and traveling halfway across Citadel space to Illium, again, to do God knows what to whatever is left of your body." Ah, that explained it. Her Mother was understanding of the cybernetic upgrades she needed to keep functioning, seeing it as a necessary evil. But she had a very strong stance when it came to voluntary augmentation, and the fact that Eva had done so several times had been a source of constant strain even before Akuze.

Shepard sighed, "I was just getting a new amp made, and I thought we weren't supposed to be fighting?" Hannah's face was visibly relieved by the news, "I'm sorry Eva, it's just that I'm worried that one day I won't be able to recognize you. I've seen what can happen, when a person goes too far and is just gone." Her Mother's face was filled with sorrow, the same kind of expression she had on Armistice Day every year. Eva reached across the car, setting her still natural hand on top of her Mother's, "I'm still me Mom, that won't ever change." Her Mother simply nodded a few times, before the two of them settled into a, not quite comfortable silence.

The restaurant was nice, though Shepard had to suppress a laugh at how uncomfortable her Mother became when the Matron hostess came over and hit on her. After several polite refusals the Matron merely shrugged and sashayed away, Hannah buried her head in her hands, "Not a word of this to Anderson, last thing I need is for him to start suggesting I take a vacation to Illium." Hannah, to Evalyn's knowledge, had never pursued another relationship since her Father had passed. While she was younger she paid no real attention to that, but now it struck her as odd, but like so many things about her Mother she was scared to push. Hannah Shepard was a woman with powerful secrets in her past, and it was these secrets that had caused her to lash out at her Mother months ago.

However, now was not the time to be discussing this, so she opted for a safe topic. "So how was your flight? I can't imagine the transport was all that comfortable." Hannah simply laughed, "You think I took one of those slow things, I took the _Shanxi_ out of her dock." Eva's eyebrows shot up in surprise, the _Shanxi_ was her mother's personal ship. It had originally begun life as a personal transport for some higher up in the Alliance before it had fallen into her possession. Since then it had been modified several times over, being given additional weapon systems, and modification to the ship to switch into a hovering mode so it could act as a gunship in the atmosphere.

"And they let you dock? Hell are you even certified for flying anymore. It's been a long time since you flew a fighter." Her Mother was smiling into the glass she was drinking from, "Just because I got promoted Eva doesn't mean that I let my ratings slip. I still drive a Mako better than you do as well, but well that isn't much of a claim is it dear?"

Shepard was about to respond when an alert in her ear notified her that she was being contacted, "Um, just one moment Mom." Which that she stood up, walking over to the nearby balcony that was thankfully deserted. "Shepard here."

"Shepard, good. I was worried that you weren't on the Citadel yet. Pickup is set for after you transition past the Widow relay, my ship and I will be in position to pick you up." Nihlus' small tinny voice came through the comm built into her ear.

"I understand. Anything further Nihlus?" She waited for several seconds, delays were to be expected when using standard comms. "No Shepard, as long as you stick to the schedule everything should go smoothly. Nihlus out."

Shepard returned to the table, finding out that the food had arrived. They ate quietly, when they were close to finishing her Mother spoke up, "Are you going to tell me what you are actually doing? We both know that you aren't one to run." Hannah sighed, setting down her utensils reaching across the table to place her hands on top of Eva's natural one. "Whatever doubts you may have in regards to me, whatever you tell me now I swear I will not reveal to anyone."

Eva sighed, she knew that this was a mistake. She could fool Anderson, but the same lines would never work on her Mother. It was stupid of her to try and patch things up here, she should have kept her distance. "Look, I, it isn't that I don't trust you Mom. But well it is dangerous, and I can say that yes it does involve Akuze."

Her Mother grimly nodded, "Dangerous seems an apt word when you are dealing with a Turian Spectre." Eva jerked her hand away from her Mother, "How the hell do you know about me working with Nihlus!" She was forcing herself to not shout, knowing that a scene here would do her no favors. Her Mother held her hands up in a sign of peace, "Are you really surprised that I had someone follow you when you just went and disappeared. A very competent Elcor contacted me in regards to you being contacted by one Spectre Nihlus Kryik."

Eva's mind stopped working for several moments, "You hired an Elcor?" Her mother simply nodded, Eva then pressed further, "An Elcor, who is employed as a private eye?" Yet another quick nod from her Mother, "And Elcor private eye, who apparently was successful in spying on me without my knowledge." Her mother smiled at that, replying "He came very highly recommended.."

The smile quickly faded though, "You can understand why I am worried about you getting involved with a Spectre. If he is just using you to get at whomever is behind Akuze, take my advice and get out Eva. It isn't worth risking your life over, especially not at the behest of some Turian. Especially one who was trained by Saren." Her Mother almost sounded like she had a connection to Saren,Eva filed that away for later, her Mother had always disliked Turians but this was new. "Look, Mom, I'm holding you to your word here. But there is the potential for me to be inducted into the Spectres, that is what this job is about. It's simply a cover to keep eyes off of me."

Her Mother simply starred dumbstruck for a few moments, then she smiled softly. "That truly is an amazing feat Eva, I'm sure your Father would be proud. But, are you sure this is what you want, that this isn't just you using it as a chance to get revenge? I just don't want you risking your life for the wrong reasons."

Eva nodded, "I won't lie, Akuze was a big part of my initial reason for being interested. But, you know me I'm a doer, I can't just be content sitting on the sidelines. Hell, we both know that I could have retired years ago if I had started up a tech firm, but that isn't the person you raised. So if I have a chance to keep being who I am, I'm taking it. Regardless of the risk it places me in."

Her Mother simply nodded, "I was afraid you would say something like this. She pulled out a small device from her pocket, placing it on the table. That's the _Shanxi's _control information, I want you to take it." Shepard tried to interrupt, but her Mother cut her off. "That ship is virtually unknown to anyone but the two of us, and I won't have you going off into the unknown without doing my best to keep you safe. You can slave it to your Omni-tool and have the auto pilot meet you wherever you need it to."

Eva was simply silent as she processed the information, she spoke silently, almost haltingly, "Thank you Mom, I know that things haven't been great between us. And I'll take my share of that, but I know that you mean well, and I want you to know that I do understand. And that I love you." The last was said closer to a whisper, but the older Shepard could hear her well enough.

Her Mother nodded at her, smiling, "But you have a galaxy to go out and save, I understand. Go out there and make me proud." Eva nodded, standing up, but then quickly leaning over and giving her mother an awkward hug. "Love you Mom." Small tears formed in both their eyes, "Love you too Eva. Now get going, before you're late." Eva nodded before slipping out of the restaurant, leaving Hannah behind looking more pensive than ever.

S&amp;S

Inside a disguised transport a Cerberus operative waited the return of Hannah Shepard. Miranda Lawson hated waiting, it was a trait she did her utmost to ensure never bubbled to the surface. But it did not alter the fact that she preferred to be doing anything, even the most monotonous of work held a more tantalizing prospect than the chance to sit around and do nothing. A normal individual would watch some vapid modern vid, or the latest extranet show, catch up on their favorite sports team. However, Miranda was interested in none of those things, her interests lay in Cerberus, in assisting the organization that had not only enabled her to safeguard her sister, but in a very odd way given her the closest thing she ever had to a Mother.

The door opened, signaling the arrival of Hannah Shepard, Miranda's occasional boss, long time associate of the Illusive Man, and her surrogate Mother. Hannah had gone out of her way to ensure that Miranda had some level of support since she joined the organization, held her when she ended up breaking down in tears after Oriana was sent to live with her new family, she had always made sure that she had time for Miranda if she needed it. And for that alone Miranda would be always grateful, indeed sometimes she wasn't sure who she was more loyal to Cerberus, or to Hannah personally. "How did the meeting go? Did you determine what Nihlus wanted with your Daughter." Evalyn Shepard, was someone that Miranda both respected, and when she was being perfectly honestly envied. While Akuze was an absolute disaster in regards to their plans for her, Nihlus getting involved with her could be even worse.

Hannah nodded, "She's being tested for the Spectres like you thought, from Walker's footage we can deduce that she has gotten farther than Anderson at least." Hannah sighed explosively as she sat down on the couch in the cramped living quarters. "She accepted the _Shanxi _at least, have you found anything to indicate whether or not someone botched those transfer order on purpose?" Hannah had a theory that someone else inside Cerberus had tried to take Evalyn out of commission, perhaps as a warning, perhaps simply someone taking office politics to the illogical extreme.

"No, but it doesn't change the fact that I agree with you that whatever cell is responsible for Akuze has gone out of control. Has the Illusive Man said anything regarding the matter?" Hannah burst out laughing at that, "Get a straight answer out of Jack? Please, all he mentioned was that he was looking into it. But in order to maintain the integrity of the network he wouldn't be able to go into specifics." She mumbled something under her breath that sounded like "Sanctimonious ass" but Miranda ignored it.

She sighed sadly, "Eva and I did have a nice talk though, well as nice as we can have nowadays. Maybe one day once all this is over I could introduce you two" Miranda's face must have given away how she saw that event going, "I realize it will be awkward as hell, but I would like for both my daughters to know one another. In fact you two would probably make quite the team, if you could work together for five minutes without killing one another." Miranda blushed slightly, she would never get used to actually being viewed as a part of a family, but Hannah always made sure she understood that she did have one.

"I'll go and start up the ship Hannah, we don't want you being late in getting back to Arcturus." She slipped out of the crew area towards the cockpit. Hannah's voice calling out after her, "One day you are going to have to drop this Hannah crap and call me Mom you know." Miranda's face felt like it was on fire, whispering quietly to herself, "Yes, Mom."

S&amp;S

The transfer from the recon ship over to Nihlus' had gone off without a hitch. The crew were all long serving patriotic professionals, chosen to ensure that they would not break her cover once they returned. Entering the cargo bay via the airlock she found the _Shanxi _taking up most of the bay. "Quite the little gift you decided to send me Shepard. So you know bribes will get you no where." Nihlus' voice came above, from a small catwalk that went along the side of the wall. She did a slow circuit around the gunboat noting the current weapon systems, multiple heavy cannons, four missile tubes, and one linked set of cannons on a swivel under the nose of the ship. The ship wasn't as agile as a fighter, but it had the benefit of being able to safely transit through relays. Placing it on the small side of ships with the capacity to do so safely.

"It was a gift from my Mother, she knew something was up and wanted to make sure I was safe." Nihlus nodded, seemingly not surprised. "I'm certain that you would tell me if you felt something was going to jeopardize your cover. Indeed this is an excellent ship for you, with a little paint it could easily be your personal ship once you are upgraded to full status."

He motioned for her to follow him, "Now however is not the time for that, in our tracking of Cerberus we have had a single name pop up several times. Jack, a human biotic has been actively hunted by Cerberus since apparently escaping them when she was a child. Shepard she is extremely dangerous, but could be a useful source of intel regarding Cerberus. Or at the very least bait to catch them if they attempt to retrieve her again."

Reaching the living quarters the gestured at a screen built into one of the walls, an image of a beaten up space station appeared. "Jack has been tracked to this station, going under the alias Jacqueline Nought. Your mission is to make contact with her, and gain her assistance, I am granting you permission to offer her a low level immunity from prosecution. Essentially you grant her a get out of jail free card for assisting us, within reason of course, she can't just shoot up half the Citadel and expect to get away with it."

Nihlus shut off the screen, "Shepard you are going in there alone, I'll remain with the ship if you do require backup. Remember that this station is a haven for criminals, it is allowed to exist only because it makes it easier to find them if they go to ground. Good hunting."

S&amp;S

Shepard's armored form walked into the bar, her armor now bore the Spectre symbol on the right shoulder, causing the entire room to fall silent. She stalked towards the bar, keeping in mind the lessons Vasir had drilled into her regarding movement. The Turian behind the bar was 'barefaced' in that he wore no identifying colony marker, it was also a mark that a Turian was not to be trusted. She stopped slightly in front of the bar, pulling out a credit chit with a smooth motion, "I am searching for a human named Jacqueline Nought, inform her that I wish to meet with her in docking bay six and you shall receive an additional payment."

She turned and slipped back out of the bar, Jack would hear about it from someone, and given her psych profile would come to confront Shepard. The bay she had chosen was not where Nihlus had docked their ship, he was in bay 3, instead she had chosen one that was mostly bare, only a few large shipping containers lay near the entrance of the room. She did a circle of the room, ensuring that no one was already here, before settling down in the middle of the room. Vasir had taught her how to meditate as a method of further increasing her control over her biotics, so while she waited a blue corona of biotics formed about her.

She was unsure how much time had passed when the sound of someone approaching drew her attention, she let the biotic field about her dissipate, standing up to meet whomever was coming to see her. The first thing that struck her about Jack was how young the girl was, but the look in her eyes showed that the child had died long ago. "Miss Nought I presume, my name is Mirix Varan." She addressed the tattooed girl, knowing that Jack would have trouble dealing with someone being respectful to her presence.

Jack seemed wary of her, like a predator that isn't sure if it has walked into a meal or a trap. "Fucking nice to meet you too, the hell do you want with me." Jack had continued to circle her, right now she was sitting in Shepard's blind spot. An obvious attempt to unsettle her, one that Shepard wouldn't fall for.

"I am currently investigating Cerberus, it has come to my attention that you escaped from their custody. As such I feel that you could be an asset in my investigation." Jack who had moved back in front of her suddenly stopped at the mention of the organizations name, her body flaring with biotic power, though Shepard wasn't sure if the reaction was intentional or reflex. "And what bitch? You want to use me as a weapon against them, turn their little experiment back on to them?" Another pulse flared as she hurled a shockwave towards Shepard, "Fuck That!"

Given their proximity her chances of dodging the blow was minimal, instead she pushed all the power she could into her barrier. Even still she found herself blown backwards off her feat, though she managed to land heavily on her knees, leaving a trail of sparks as she slid backwards along the floor. "Jack we can do this the easy way or the hard way!"

"I only know hard bitch!" It was at this moment that serendipity occurred.

Numerous armed figures began to charge into the room, most of them were the type of scum that made up the inhabitants of the station. But behind them was a black armored figure, the double hexagon logo of Cerberus standing prominently on it's left shoulder. Hitting her comm she contacted Nihlus, "Confirmed Cerberus commando at the entrance of docking bay 6 Nihlus, numerous local hostiles as well."

The Cerberus dog yelled out, "Kill the Spectre, but capture Jack alive. Pull this off lads and you can retire for the rest of your days."

Jack and Shepard both glanced at each other, Shepard figured now would be as good a chance as ever "Truce?" The younger human flared brightly as she slammed one of the shipping containers with a push, the large container crushed several men slow enough to not get out of it's way. Jack turned to look at her, "Truce."

Shepard grabbed her rifle from her back, letting loose an overload upon the closest figure to her, followed by drilling a burst directly into his skull. She couldn't afford to use explosives on this poorly maintained station, and Jack wasn't in her turrets FoF programming so she couldn't risk using them. Jack screamed as she sent another shockwave through the group, as Shepard followed up with an incinerate. Shepard reached down, grabbing the M-4 Shuriken she had purchased on Illium, "Jack catch!" She tossed the weapon to the younger woman, who was relying far too heavily on biotics.

One idiot decided to charge Shepard with an Omni-blade, to which she casually activated the flamethrower on her turret still attached to her arm. While he writhed on the ground she drilled a round into her skull, there was only about another five armed individuals, discounting the commando. She turned and hit the Phaestrom that one Turian was using with her own variant of a sabotage. It didn't stop the gun from firing, instead it turned off the safety mechanism that stopped the heatsink from going critical.

A sudden flash of light and most of the Turian's arms were gone, his companions next to him starring in abject horror. To which Shepard launched a missile at them from her other turret, causing them to pinwheel backwards, as they struggled to their feat they were ripped apart when another shockwave from Jack struck them. Shepard used a pull on a nearby Salarian, pulping his skull as she punched him with her cybernetic arm. Those denizens of the station who were left seemed to realize their chances of actually acquiring their reward, and began to run for the exit.

With the fight seemingly leaving the hired guns she expected the Commando to retreat, instead he was pushing towards Jack, firing calmly with a rifle that looked like a heavily modified Mattock. The girl screamed out as a round tore through her thigh ignoring her barrier, phasic rounds. This man had come prepared to take down Jack, Shepard let out a yell as she charged him, hoping to give Jack some time to get into cover.

Shepard activated her Omni-shield, the flash manufactured barrier flaring as round slammed into it. Her armored counterpart suddenly threw away his rifle, an blazing red Omni-blade formed on his right arm which he brought down directly on to her shield. Shepard grunted pushing him back using the beyond human strength of her arm, lashing out with a biotic kick to his chest to push him back. He pulled a pistol off of his thigh, but instead of aiming at Shepard, her instead aimed at the prone form of Jack. "One more move Spectre, and the girl dies. Now if you don't want that to happen, put down your weapons nice and easy."

Nihlus' voice buzzed in her ear, "I've got him Shepard." When Shepard didn't move to comply he gestured violently, "You think I'm bluff-" A single report echoed though the room, and his body, plus a new hole in his head, tumbled to the ground.

Nihlus waltzed into the room, "Sorry about that Varan, they had some friends in the hallway that tried to slow me down." Shepard had already begun checking the body for any data, stopping his Omni-tool from flash frying itself she saved it to review for later. Finding nothing else she turned to see Nihlus attending to Jack. "Think we should bring her back to the ship for medical?" She asked the Turian.

Nihlus shook his head, "Through and through, some medi-gel and taking it easy and she should be fine." He turned to look at Jack who had been silent, "Though I think you should get off this station Miss Nought."

Shepard walked over, pulling Jack up so that she could get support from Shepard's shoulder. "I'll drop her off somewhere with my ship. Send me some rendezvous coordinates and I'll meet you there." Nihlus nodded, as he took point as they moved through the station back to their ship.

S&amp;S

Shepard settled Jack into the small secondary seat behind the cockpit off the _Shanxi_, Jack who hadn't said a word since the fight was still being quiet. As Shepard flicked several switches to start up the ship, and open up the cargo bay doors, she spoke to the girl, "Any idea where you want me to drop you off?" Jack was silent, before answering "Could you drop me off on Illium, I don't like the place but I can figure out where I'm going from there easily enough." Shepard nodded, Jack would talk when she wanted to.

Shepard enjoyed flying, her Mother had made sure she could fly ships since she was a kid Something about moving through the black was peaceful, though terrifying at the same time. She sometimes wondered how things would have gone had she been a pilot instead of following in Dad's footsteps.

Jack's voice cut off her daydreaming, "So why did you want me in the first place, I don't know shit about Cerberus aside from the fact that they are a bunch of sick fucktards." Shepard thought about her response, "Honestly Jack we thought you might have intel on them, but given how much effort they are still putting in pursuing you I'd like to keep you as a contact. If you think they are about to make a move you let me know and we'll set up a trap."

Jack scoffed in the back, "So I get to be bait, what do I get out of this deal huh?" Shepard remembered what Nihlus had authorized her to offer, "Immunity if you get captured by citadel forces, essentially a get out of jail free card." She shifted in her seat to look at the young woman, "That does not include murder, you take a life, enjoy jail time."

Jack was silent for a while, before quietly replying. "You've got a deal bitch."

S&amp;S

The rifle the man had been using was indeed a modified Mattock, in fact it was based off of her old primary weapon. She had given it to Alliance R&amp;D when she had upgraded to the Sabre, yet another in a long line of growing connections between Cerberus and the Alliance. Shepard sighed, and focused her efforts on to the Omni-tool.

She had been analyzing the data for quite from time, but she had finally found something. Putting it up on the main screen she beckoned Nihlus over, an image of a human male in his sixties appeared. "This is Albert Leander, he was a marine during the FCW, before transitioning into investments after he was discharged following the war. According to the Omni-tool we acquired from the Cerberus commando he is one of the primary funding sources for this cell of Cerberus. As such if we can gain access to his financial data we should be able to figure out where the base they are operating outside of is."

Nihlus nodded, "So we will need to get into their financial records without being detected, to ensure they don't bug out like last time. And we are going to need some backup when we go to take out that facility." Nihlus let out a sigh, "I was hoping we could do this all in house, but I think we may need to contact the Shadow Broker. He will probably demand a favor of both of us."

Shepard simply nodded, "I signed up to get back at Cerberus, a few deals with the devil don't scare me Nihlus."

S&amp;S

AN: I'm still working on getting fight scenes with multiple actors down, I felt my Nihlus V. Shep was a decent battle, but not so sure with this. Well practice makes perfect I guess.

After this each chapter will probably be a bit more contained, I don't want to rush this prologue, but at the same time I don't want to get bogged down in too much setup.


	5. Things thought gone

AN: I never got why Shepard is always against Barla Von, he's just good at his job. It's not like Shepard is employed in a business that is focused on actions that given a different context can be seen as horrifying, oh wait.

Still looking for a Beta for this, I'll find one eventually. And I've commissioned some artwork of Evalyn, so whenever that is done I'll be using it for the story image. Unless it is too big, then I'll make sure there is a link in my profile to it.

Thanks to all those who left reviews, followed, favored, etc.

Song: Beauty of Cortana by Neil Davidge

S&amp;S

Shepard, as Mirix Varan, walked into the office of a Volus banker known as Barla Von. The rotund little sentient was apparently a financial mastermind, with some of the wealthiest clients in the galaxy. He was also a, relatively, known member of the Shadow Broker's network.

The Volus glanced up at the door chime, "Ah. Hello Thessia-Clan, how may I be of assistance today?" A hiss punctuated his speech at intervals, a side effect of the Volus requiring pressure suits to survive outside their natural environment. "I have just discovered a potentially lucrative eezo mine that is just starting up, could I interest you in an investment opportunity?"

Shepard shook her head, "Unfortunately not today, the currents bring me to talk to you about your other line of work Von." The Volus seemed a little disappointed, just something from the way his frame seemed to slump even more.

"Of course Thessia-Clan, the Broker was already anticipating you. He had a single request, and then I am authorized to give you whatever information that you wish."

Shepard nodded respectfully towards the Volus. Von took that as permission to continue, "The Broker believes that you are in contact with a particularly skilled engineer, he wishes to have a machine designed for him." The Volus fumbled for a few moments, before pulling out a small OSD. "I don't know what is on that disk Thessia-Clan, but whatever it is, he won't give up the data until it is designed to his specifications."

Shepard slipped the OSD into a storage slot on her armor, "Thank you for your assistance Barla Von, perhaps next time I can take you up on your financial advice." Nodding again respectfully to the banker, she departed.

The Volus spoke as she left the room, "It would be my greatest pleasure Thessia-Clan."

S&amp;S

Nihlus was looking over the request from the Broker, "So he wants you to design a torture device, but one that also serves as a life support system? Seems a little extreme, even for the Broker."

Shepard made a non-committal noise in response, "Extreme or not it gets us that financial data. Plus at least he didn't ask for something that could be detrimental to the council."

Nihlus leaned over, tapping his talons on the schematic she was working on, "Just detrimental to whatever poor bastard gets tossed into this thing."

Shepard shrugged, "I'm just designing it, whatever the Broker does with it is on his head. Not mine. And how many more people will die if Cerberus is allowed to keep operating in this manner. I know it is full on ruthless calculus, but at least the Broker is a known evil. We don't know why Cerberus is doing what it is doing, if it had been non-humans on Akuze that would have matched their MO."

Nihlus cut her off, "I understand Shepard, and I agree with your actions. I just need you to realize that things don't get any easier from here, Spectres aren't about justice, we are about making sure that when the day is over there is still a functional galaxy. The Broker is often helpful in that goal, while these actions by Cerberus threaten it. Just remember, you aren't some avenging spirit for your men. As a Spectre you may need to do things you disagree with in order to ensure stability, Cerberus may be an enemy today, but circumstances can forge alliances you don't expect to fulfill your mission." He sighed, resting an armored hand on her shoulder briefly. Before walking away, "Just remember what I said Shepard."

Shepard resumed her work on the device, muttering to herself. "It will be a cold day in hell when I work with Cerberus."

S&amp;S

Hannah Shepard activated her console's communication function, Miranda's face blinked into view. After a few moments Miranda began to speak, "I was told to forward you this data packet by the Illusive Man, he has a plan to ensure that Evalyn will gain her closure. But also to make sure that she will no longer be able to do any more damage to the organization."

Miranda sighed briefly, "He plans on sacrificing Leander's cell, something which I'm not entirely opposed to. The man has bungled every attempt at capturing the last several targets the Illusive Man has given him." Hannah frowned further, she could tell that Miranda wasn't fully on board with this plan.

"You disagree with part of this plan Miranda?" Miranda's eyes widened slightly, before nodding slowly.

"I think that he is underestimating both Evalyn, and Nihlus. Assuming that they will draw the easy conclusion, the equipment will indicate it was the same cell as the one that they raided earlier. However, if they capture any of the men, make them talk. It will just make her redouble her efforts, you know your daughter better than he does. How would you give her some closure?"

Hannah paused, the gears in her mind turning. "Is the subject from Akuze still alive?" Miranda blinked several times, tapping her interface several times to bring up a report in front of her.

"Yes, though he has engaged in several escape attempts. Two of which resulted in fatalities among the staff."

Hannah grimly smiled, "That will do. Inform Jack that I have modifications to his plan"

S&amp;S

Mirix Varan once again entered into Barla Von's office. The Volus already at his desk gave a small gesture of greeting, "Hello again, Thessia-Clan. I trust the Broker will be happy with the results?" He gestured into a slot built into his desk, designed for the insertion of an OSD, Shepard bent down and inserted the drive containing the schematics into it.

The Volus tapped away at his computer, "While we wait would you care to peruse my investment portfolios. A Spectre must ensure that their investments are diversified after all." Shepard couldn't help but admire the Volus' determination.

"Perhaps once this business had been handled Barla Von, I would not wish for my mind to be distracted while dealing with intergalactic finance."

The Volus nodded, but before he could reply a noise emerged from his console. "Ah, the Broker is quite pleased Thessia-Clan. Enough so that he has seen fit to engage for you the services of a renown Tchunka-Clan Battlemaster to assist you. But first, the financial data you requested."

The Volus trundled off to the side of the room, a small panel sliding open revealing numerous well organized stacks of data pads. Von deftly selected one before returning, the wall sliding back together soundlessly. He held the pad up for her to take, Shepard noted that there were numerous small notes made in the margins of the data. "These notes are most useful Barla Von."

The Volus waved the praise away, "Think nothing of it Thessia-Clan. When you contract Barla Von, you must expect only the best financial advice."

Shepard slipped the pad into a holder on her left hip, "You mentioned a Krogan?"

Von nodded, "Yes, his name is Urdnot Wrex. I believe that he will have a small request before he accepts the mission. But that is a personal mission of his own, not a favor for the Broker." He turned opening a drawer on his desk, pulling out another small OSD. "This OSD contains the coordinates of where Wrex wishes to go, it is the mercenaries payment. Have a pleasant day Thessia-Clan."

Shepard took the small device from the Volus, promising that once she actually had some funds to invest them with him. If only to thank him for his assistance.

S&amp;S

Accessing C-Sec's systems had enabled her to quickly find Wrex, he was apparently on C-Sec's permanent watch list for 'dangerous' individuals. Shepard noted with some amusement that both Evalyn Shepard, and Mirix Varan were on the list as well.

Wrex was set up at Chora's Den, a strip bar run by a human named Fist. Fist was one of the Broker's lower level contacts, as such he apparently got the task of seeing to Wrex's accommodations while he was on the Citadel. Shepard surmised given the expression on the Krogan's face that he didn't find them very accommodating either. Or perhaps that was just his default expression when he had to lean against a wall, with no place to sit, while a bunch of drunks yelled at half dressed Asari.

Taking care to approach the Krogan directly, so as to make sure he didn't mistake her intention. She weaved her wave between tables filled with males, and a handful of females, of all species. Though one idiot of a Turian found himself with a broken hand, courtesy of her cyberware, when he tried to grab at her ass. Why he thought grabbing for what appeared to be an Asari in full battle gear was a good idea was beyond her considerable intellect.

Reaching Wrex he held up his hand before she could start, "You know what my fee is for this job?" Shepard nodded, fishing out the small OSD from her armor. "The Broker informed me that you would also have a personal request of me Battlemaster?"

Wrex rumbled, "You talk a good Asari, but I can smell you from here." Wrex must have seen her hand twitch towards her pistol, causing his smirk to grow wider. "I'd like to see you try. But, you help me out with this, and your secret is safe. Unlike most of you pyjaks at least you seem to have some spirit, or else you wouldn't have that mark on your shoulder."

Shepard forced herself to relax, trying to fight the Krogan here would just complicate matters. But she would talk this over with Nihlus. He only knew she was human, and Evalyn Shepard had a very solid alibi at this very moment. "Alright, what's the job?"

Wrex nodded, "Glad to see someone else with reason in this cesspool. Job's simple. There is a Turian out in the Phoenix system, some pirate who goes by the name of Tonn Actus. This spike somehow got his hands on a relic of my family, I don't intend on letting him keep it. So? Up for doing your civic duty?" The Krogan grimly chuckled at his own joke.

Shepard held up her hand, "One moment Wrex, I need to clear this with my partner." Activating the transmitter in her helmet she sent a ping to Nihlus.

"What's the situation Shepard?"

"Everything is green, but the Krogan wants us to make a detour. There is a pirate out in the Phoenix system, pretty sure it is in the Argos Rho cluster. Anyway, Wrex wants us to swing by and kill him, The pirate, Tonn Actus, got his hands on some family heirloom from what I can tell."

She could hear Nihlus typing into his console, "Phoenix is a little out of the way, but nobody will miss Actus. Only reason he's still operating is that there are simply higher targets out there. Alright Shepard, tell him he has a deal. But this is your mission, I'll transport you two there but that is it. Ground assault, and as for what happens to any survivors is your call."

"Understood Nihlus. Shepard out."

She turned back to the Krogan, "You have yourself a deal Wrex." She extended her right hand, which Wrex took. His attempts to crush the limb was almost funny, but she was simply trying to establish parity not dominance, so she returned his grip in kind. Wrex laughed, "You've got a quad, I'll give you that much."

S&amp;S

Nihlus had assured Shepard that Wrex had a reputation for keeping to his word, though he advised her to keep her helmet on until he was off the ship. While it was rather uncomfortable she had dealt with it before during N-training.

As such Shepard was analyzing a scan of the pirates base, it was rather well defended against conventional ground assault. However for reasons she wasn't sure of it was somewhat lacking in GTS defenses, given that this was a pirate base she would have thought they would understand the benefits of such defenses. Wrex was sitting on a crate in the cargo bay, looking at the _Shanxi_ "What good is this thing going to do against the base, I'd have taken a tank."

Shepard turned to glance at him, "The ship can shift into a gunship mode. The plan is for me to do a quick pass, wiping out their heavy cannons. Meanwhile you will hit the ground near the facilities entrance, stopping any reinforcements while I mop up whomever is left outside." Wrex grunted, nodding his head towards Nihlus, "And what is spindly over there going to be doing."

Nihlus merely continued fussing with his rifle, "Enjoying the peace, and quiet Krogan."

Shepard moved over to the wall selecting a crate labeled 'Drop Equipment,' she shoved it towards Wrex. Who leaned over and popped off the latches. "What do you expect me to do with this?"

Shepard couldn't keep the smirk out of her voice, "Fall, I'm pretty sure gravity will take care of the rest." She started to leave the cargo bay before pausing, "So you know, they have a bit of a kick."

Nihlus merely chuckled in the corner.

S&amp;S

Shepard was moving through the _Shanxi's _pre-flight check, ensuring that everything was in order she comm'd Nihlus to open the bay doors. Smoothly guiding her ship out into the black she felt a familiar smile on her face. Tapping in a few keys she loaded the targeting V.I she had been working on for the swivel turret, and the missile tubes, but she didn't activate it yet.

"Alright Nihlus, once you are in position let me know and I'll start my attack."

Instead of Nihlus' voice, instead Wrex's came over the comm. "If I die in this thing pyjak, I'll kill you."

Shepard smiled at the irritation of the Krogan, "Come now Wrex, I managed to survive. I'm certain that a warrior with as many centuries as yourself can survive it as well." Wrex's grumbling continued over the comm, but she phased him out.

She checked the ships systems over again, not wanting to leave anything to chance. She was nearly about to start a third check when Nihlus' voice crackled into her ear. "Alright, we are in position. Start your attack run."

Shepard sank back into the ship as it began to accelerate to full speed. Her plan was to enter the planet's atmosphere, then proceed at full combat speed to the base. There she was to snap the ship into gunship mode, and blitz whatever defenses and defenders she could. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was a workable one.

Hitting the dense atmosphere of the planet caused her to constantly have to make course corrections, the heat itself was stifling but that was nothing compared to what a mistake here could cause. Coming out of the turbulence of re-entry she found herself almost perfectly on course. She coaxed as much speed as she could out of the ship, activating the V.I so that it could begin to get locks on the approaching base.

Finally it came into view, the turret under V.I control began to spit out rounds. While she had locks on several of the heavy base turrets, triggering the launch she felt the thud as the missiles left their bays. Shepard actually outpaced the missiles as she streaked over the base. Triggering the conversion of the ship to it's hover mode, she felt gravity angrily trying to tear her apart while the secondary mass effect core realigned to give the ship greater stability. Fighting with the ship she brought it around to face the base, leveling the ships sights on one of the three remaining defenses. _Shanxi's _shields began to flare, having slowed down enough that the turrets could actually have a hope of hitting her.

The reverberations from the cannons fixed into the ship could be felt through her armor, and as the first turret exploded Shepard could feel a grin growing across her face. She had a missile lock for the remaining two turrets, making short work of them. With no more defenses left it was simply a matter of wiping out whatever ground forces were left.

Finally Wrex's voice came over the comm, "Looks like that is all of them out here. Actus locked himself inside, not sure what exactly that is supposed to accomplish, but I never said he was smart."

Shepard moved the _Shanxi _to land in front of the main entrance, admiring the carnage that the Krogan had left in his wake. Shepard jogged up to the Krogan, who was holding position by the door's entryway. If someone tried to get out of the building, which she doubted, they were going to be in for a very nasty surprise.

Wrex's wide set eyes glanced at her, "You going to get this door, or do I have to pry it open." Shepard merely waved her arm at the door, her hacking program making mincemeat of the poorly programmed device. The door blinked from red to green before she had a chance to drop her arm. Pulling her rifle from her back, Shepard gestured toward the door. "After you." Wrex grunted, a barrier flaring around him before hitting the door before charging inside.

His war cry was punctuated by the sound of his shotgun firing. Shepard moved in behind him, content in the knowledge that the Krogan could take care of himself. He had cleared the initial room, and moved into the warehouse section of the prefab. Shepard entered into the wider room, quickly spotting movement on the walkway above her. Instinct took over, and she lashed out with a pull. A screaming Salarian found himself suspended in the middle of the room, before her field dissipated and he crunched to the ground below.

Shepard spotted Wrex engaged with several Turians, unleashing an incinerate on the closest of them. He turned towards her, his distraction cost him his life as Wrex gunned him down. Shepard began to move forward, she decided to focus on the Turian that Wrex was not currently engaged with. Hitting the hapless pirate with an overload she quickly dispatched him with several bursts through his now unshielded body. A sickening crunch indicated to her side indicated that Wrex had dispatched his target. Wrex pointed at the stairs "Actus has to be upstairs. Coward probably was hoping that his men would handle us."

As they reached the top of the stairs Shepard noticed the door at the end of the hall was sealed, but not with the traditional red barrier. She mused out loud, "He must have cut power to the door. Smart, but also stupid at the same time." Shepard glanced around, looking for something to breach the door with. Then she spotted it, "Wrex, those power cells over there. Mind moving them over to the door." Wrex realized what her plan was, and he nodded. Hefting the bulky equipment he placed it in front of the door, before backing up to a safe distance.

"Ready?" Shepard asked him, he merely chuckled. "I'll take that as a yes then." Her Omni flared as she overloaded the cells safeties, then the door, plus a good portion of the wall disappeared. An obviously stunned and on fire figure of a Turian stumbled out, but it was soon slammed back into the room by a particularly furious Krogan. A report of a shotgun later, and Wrex returned. Lugging behind him a heavy sealed crate. Shepard indicated toward the crate, "You sure that is what you came here for."

Wrex nodded, "I'm sure. Now lets go have some real fun." His chuckling continued, as the mangled corpse of Tonn Actus was burned away in the inferno they left behind them.

S&amp;S

Shepard practically growled at the date in front of her, while Von's notes were incredibly useful it didn't change the fact that Leander had an aggravatingly large amount of funds on the move. Nihlus insisted that she figure it out, stating that as a Spectre she should be able to accomplish any potential task she may come across. She understood the logic behind it, as while everyone had tasks they were most suited towards, it gave the Council a large amount of leeway in what operatives they could assign to whatever crisis occurred.

"Finally!" Her exclamation caused Nihlus to shift in his bunk, while she quickly hurried over to the main screen. She gestured Nihlus over, pointing out a set of highlighted transactions, "Right here, he had to move these credits fast, so he couldn't cover his tracks to his usual extent. They happened only a few days before our raid on initial Cerberus base." She keyed another set of transactions, "He moved the equipment to this holding facility in Berkestein, then transferred them out to the." She drifted off as she hunted through the data. Bringing up the image of a small planetoid, "Mavigon, small planet out in the Han system. Han system, funny" She chuckled a little, hoping it was a Star Wars reference, a series that her Father had been a fan of. "Looks like it has a hazardous environment, heat in excess of 100 degree centigrade, I'm beginning to think these guys just hate outdoors."

Nihlus smirked at that, "Good work, once we get into the system we'll be able to figure out what we are dealing with. If we're lucky they won't have been there long enough to bunker down." He moved towards the cockpit, "You should grab some rest while you can."

Shepard nodded, moving over to the cot she had set up, she didn't even have time to think about how uncomfortable her armor as at that moment.

S&amp;S

The sound of a Turian's voice work her up, "You are going to want to see this," something didn't sound right though, Nihlus sounded on edge. Glancing around the room she saw both Wrex, and Nihlus standing by the main vid screen. Nihlus gestured her over, pointing towards a scan taken by the ships advanced sensors. "You were right, this base is new and has the hallmarks of other Cerberus facilities that we have seen."

Shepard nodded, not entirely sure what was wrong with this scenario. "I'm guessing that something is wrong?"

Nihlus nodded, pointing towards several intact GTS towers on the display. "None of these defenses are currently power up, and we are only noting minimal power going to the base itself. Either the Broker's intel was wrong, or somehow compromised."

Shepard seeing where his train of thought was going, "Or something went wrong from the inside. Given that the defenses are untouched, they weren't attacked by outside forces, or the cell was compromised by someone on the inside."

Nihlus nodded, "I've got the ship setup to touchdown shortly. Hopefully we can get some answers as to what happened here."

S&amp;S

Their landing was without hindrance, the defenses remained inert, though Nihlus tasked Shepard with hacking their mainframe before they proceeded inside the base. Having been in one trap too many, she appreciated his level of paranoia.

On their way to the base Shepard noted what looked to be signs of a small ship having launched, "Look there someone took off from here, might have been whomever shut off the GTS defenses." Nihlus nodded, "Might be, hopefully we will get more answers inside."

They soon discovered that the base's doors had been opened, exposing the main rooms to the hostile environment. Inside they found numerous bodies in Cerberus armor, most had seemingly died when the doors had opened, unable to reach their helmets in time. Shepard kicked one man's corpse over on to its back, he had nearly reached the locker that held his helmet. "Sloppy discipline in a dangerous environment like this."

Wrex grunted, "Every idiot killed is a favor to the universe." And while Shepard didn't fully agree, in this instance she could appreciate the sentiment.

Nihlus came over the comm, "Over here, this one died from gunfire." Shepard jogged over, Nihlus was nearby the main door that led further inside the complex. Nihlus gestured towards the door, then again to the corpse. "Looks like whoever killed our guy here, came from inside the complex. Might even have been the one who disengaged the doors."

Shepard nodded, pointing at the door's green unlocked icon. "They didn't even bother to lock the door, or power up the GTS system. So we can rule out loot, or an attempt to take the base over for themselves."

Nihlus sighed, shaking his helmeted head in frustration. "Lets just push further in, hopefully things will make more sense. I'm getting real sick of just adding more questions to a list that is already too long."

On the other side of the door a single long hallway led down to another large fortified door. Several armored figures lay collapsed along the hallway, two of which were looking away from the far doorway, towards the Spectres position. "Looks like they got caught by surprise, third one was starting to react but he wasn't fast enough."

They transitioned down the hall, opening the doorway at the end of the hall. From there they entered into a horrifying hybrid of a prison, and some mad scientist's lair. Shepard moved over to one of the still powered consoles, quickly setting her Omni to hack the device she began to examine the room.

Several corpses lay about the room, she assumed they had been the researchers of this facility. But from the lack of any test subject, despite the facilities for one, she assumed their handiwork got the best of them. The scientists bodies all lay contorted in what must have been excruciating pain, Nihlus' Omni flashed as he took a same from one of the bodies. His mandibles flaring slightly, "That's odd."

Shepard finally found what she had been looking for, a single black armored guard lay on the floor near a cell like device, dead from a burst of gunfire to the chest. "What's odd Nihlus? And I think this guard here is who our mystery man got his weapon from."

Nihlus moved across the room to her location, "The med scan I just ran showed positive for high concentrations of Thresher Maw venom." Shepard pointed over towards the console she was hacking, "Well at least we got here before their computers were wiped this time, so we have win in that deparment."

Nihlus glanced around the room again, noticing an empty locker with hard points for a suit of armor. "Looks like this is where they got their armor to survive outside the base." He sighed, "Pull everything you can from the computers, I'm going to call the Council. Have them send a cleanup crew out here."

S&amp;S

Wrex had asked to be dropped off at a nearby station, apparently the Broker already had a new job lined up for him. She had escorted him off the ship, the heavy crate they had taken from Actus dragging across the floor behind Wrex. The ship they stopped in front of was top of the line, though nondescript. A ramp descended from the side, granting access to where the passenger section would normally be.

Wrex turned to her, extending his hand to mimic her initial greeting. "You have my thanks, I know that the deal was only for you to get me the coordinates to Actus' base. Should you ever need help, it would be my pleasure to honor the debt."

Shepard too his hand, reciprocating the gesture. "Safe travels Wrex, I'll try to make sure that the next fight will be worthy of us."

Wrex chuckled at that, "What? We're going to attack Palaven? Sound like it could be fun." With that he maneuvered his bulky form, plus his cargo up the ramp and into the ship.

S&amp;S

Shepard was piecing together security footage while she waited on the decryption of the more sensitive documents they had uncovered. The subject had been a male human, though the angles never allowed for a good look at his face.

He had been injected with some type of chemical by one of the scientists, they had then put him back into his cell. But then something went wrong, the subject began to thrash about, causing the guard in the room to unlock the cell.

The subject quickly overpowered the guard, likely having played up their earlier episode, and killed them after gaining control of their rifle.

He had then proceeded to inject each of the scientists at gunpoint, with the same substance that he had been injected with. Presumably the Thresher venom that Nihlus' scan earlier had picked up. He had then overwritten the atmosphere controls from the room, then proceeded to outfit himself from an emergency armor cache in the corner.

He had engaged with the three still unaware guards in the hallway, before taking out the sole survivor in the main room. Switching to an outside cam she tracked the figure, he boarded a small human built ship. She groaned, diving into the Cerberus files that they had uncovered praying that she would find the ships transponder codes. "Got it."

She tapped her Omni, sending the files over to Nihlus. "The transponder for the ship that our mystery man left on." Nihlus began inputting them into the C-Sec and Spectre databases, "Just got a hit, our guy landed on the Citadel only a short time ago." He tapped a quick entry into his Omni, and she felt the slight shift as the ship began to accelerate. "Keep working on that database, I'll contact C-Sec and get them to check out the ship." Nihlus slipped out of the living area, back into the cargo bay.

Shepard nodded, turning to find out that some more files were no longer encrypted. Opening up the subjects file she could only stare in horror, "Oh God, Toombs?" A twisted and broken variant of the man she had once served with starred back at her.

"Shepard we have a problem, our mystery human just hit a Sirta office. Blew his way through nearly a dozen civilians until he reached the back. Apparently there was a Cerberus safe house in the building, he killed an agent inside, and left, behind a rambling message about a dead dog. That is where C-Sec lost him, but not before he managed to upload evidence of Cerberus to CNN. Same MO that was used in the base, Thresher venom into the blood stream using some modified medical injector, so I think it is pretty safe to say that this is still our guy."

Nihlus sighed, "The Council is, well none too pleased to say the least." Shepard understood that the Council wasn't angry that people were dead, it was angry that proof of Cerberus operating on the Citadel had been potentially made public. People liked their monsters tucked away in the dark corners of the galaxy, it agitated people to realize how fragile the system was.

Shepard merely nodded, "The subject served with me on Akuze, Cerberus must have had him this whole time. Christ, Toombs." She glanced over at Nihlus, "Cerberus is to blame for what happened to him, but he's obviously unstable. I'll do whatever it takes to see this through."

Nihlus nodded, "Get some rest while you can, once we hit the Citadel I don't think we will be sleeping for some time."

S&amp;S

AN: This chapter was such a blasted pain to write, I didn't want to just have them assault the base, but at the same time I needed them to actually get to said base. Also my original draft called for Toombs to escape in the chaos, but that just made Team Nihlus and Cerberus come off as incompetent. Wasn't until I heading to bed that this idea hit me, so I just tapped it out onto my tablet. I'll admit I'm much happier with this setup.

The Star Wars joke comes from Empire, when Han is going through systems and stops on Lando's name. Leia asks him "Lando System." So I've always pretended that the "Han System" was a Star Wars reference, I don't care if it isn't!

I always appreciate a review, but I'll keep plugging away at this story regardless.


	6. Unexpected

AN: Trying to improve how I write dialogue, hope you guys notice an improvement. Still working on how to properly articulate thought processes. Nothing ventured, nothing gained and all that jazz. Also I won't lie, I have no idea how some of you are finding this story on the site. I never look past the first page of my filtered results.

Song: Man Or Machine by Thunderstep Music

Liara and Shep song: Unlimited Sky by Tommy heavenly6 (No I don't know what the lyrics are but the feels are there.)

I'll be putting character themes in the start of chapters now, but they will always be available in my profile as well. Also character will get multiple themes over time, because well if they don't change then I may as well make the adventures of cardboard shep.

S&amp;S

By the time they arrived at the Citadel C-Sec had already processed the crime scene. Only Jondum Bau, a fellow Spectre, was on site to walk them through the cordoned area. He was reviewing his Omni when he noticed them coming, beckoning them over to his position at the entrance of the Sirta office.

"Nihlus, a pleasure as always, and you must be Varan. You should be quite proud to be training under Nihlus, with Saren having trained him you have quite the lineage to live up to."

He turned, looking further in to the crime scene, "Apologies, such talk is unprofessional here. It is quite rare for me to see my colleagues, sometimes I forget where I am."

Shepard glanced inside the office, "Do we have any clues as to what led him to know how this safe house was here."

"No, we must assume that he somehow gathered the location while he was captured. Rather problematic given the wide range of Cerberus interests."

Nihlus sighed, "What I'm more worried about is what he will do once he runs out of Cerberus targets, since he isn't against killing civilians we must assume that he will continue to try and draw them out."

Bau nodded, "Indeed, seven civilians killed inside. One bystander, six employees. Security footage shows that he walked in fully outfitted, and just opened fire. Secretary at the front was the first to go, young Asari, daughter of a fairly prominent legislator."

Shepard interrupted, "How did he just walk in with his gear, I had to smuggle a pistol while I was here." The last comment earned a glance from both men, "What? I wasn't walking around here without a weapon."

Bau supplied the answer, "Forged special permit, we suspect the Broker gave it to him. Likely in exchange for information on Cerberus that our target obtained. Plus a large amount of Sirta stock was offloaded before the hit, while hard to track it is safe to assume that someone knew of the attack in the financial market."

Boa led them further inside the building, "He killed the last two civilians who were hiding, then proceeded to place charges along this back wall. The charges gave him access to a safe house, where he then executed a Cerberus agent. Method was using a type of medical injector filled with what appears to be Thresher Maw venom, I must assume his last moment were excruciating."

Shepard glanced up at the nearby wall, scrawled into the wall was the message 'Only good dog is a dead dog.' She ran her hands along the wall, frowning when he hand went over the message. "This was melted into the wall? Did he use acid?"

Bau nodded, "Good eye, he also used a small amount of Thresher Maw acid. I am still unsure of how he stores it, but it appeared to come out of some type of metallic container he kept on him."

Nihlus frowned, "How was it that C-Sec lost him, from the reports I have heard he didn't ditch his armor so how did he stay out of sight?"

Bau shrugged, "You know C-Sec, they have opened an investigation into the matter. I will admit that this human does show some degree of skill."

"He name was Richard Toombs, he was working to achieve his N7 designation. He lost most of his unit on Akuze, I doubt that he is still the man he was before the attack. But I doubt he has become any less skilled at combat, but this sadism is, well if you push a person hard enough sometimes they break."

Bau nodded, "More data always useful, but first the Council needs to see you before you can be of more help."

Nihlus huffed, "Spirits, haven't they chewed me out for this enough already."

"Not you, Varan is who they wish to speak to."

Shepard glanced from one Spectre to the next, "What in the Goddess' name did I do?"

S&amp;S

She was brought to a small room in the Citadel tower, and instructed to sit in a chair located square in the middle of the room. The room was rather bare, nothing but her chair, and a rather large desk accompanied by three chairs.

Before she could really start to fidget a door at the back opened, both Councilor Tevos, and Valern entered though they were not accompanied by their Turian counterpart. Tevos flowed into her chair, before smiling lightly toward the human in front of her.

"Do not take this meeting as an indication of our displeasure, you have in fact been exceeding the expectations that some of us held." She glanced at the still vacant chair of Sparatus.

Valern charged right ahead, "This meeting however involves the current, Toombs situation. It must be handled quickly, but most of all discreetly. As such we are considering an offer we have received, one that pertains to you."

"How does this offer help deal with Richard?" If the Broker was helping him in these attacks, then the only people who could know about him, "Cerberus, you are entertaining an offer from fucking Cerberus! They are the one's who got us into this mess in the first place!"

Valern only smirked a little, "This is not a negotiation Shepard, they have intelligence, we need that intelligence."

"And what do they get out of it! I'm sure they aren't doing it to balance out their karma." It was taking all her effort not to pulp that lizard.

Tevos noticing the change in the room chimed in, "We have called you here because you are part of this deal, you and an agent of theirs will hunt down and eliminate Toombs. They want to protect their assets that he is aware of, and we need to stop him before it looks like we have lost control. Know, that if you decline you will be removed as a trainee."

"Because I don't want to work with the people who literally butchered my men."

Tevos sighed, "We normally would not ask this of you so soon, to be a Spectre is to have no loyalty to anything but the idea of Citadel Space. You are young, and we would have been content to wait, but the tide of fate does not give us that luxury. You know this target, and while it may be cruel of us to ask it of you, we need to see if you survive this crucible. So Shepard, are you fit to be a Spectre, or are you just a broken little girl still raging at the deaths of a few humans?"

Something broke in that moment, she wasn't sure how she crossed the room, she definitely wasn't sure as to how she got her pistol into her left hand. But she found herself lifting Tevos off the ground with her right arm, while Valern was held off at gun point.

Red still filled her vision as she manged to choke out her next sentence. "You should realize Councilor that you are getting both."

She let go of the Councilor dropping her to the floor, she was already leaving the room before Tevos gasped for her first breath.

S&amp;S

A sigh exploded from her the moment the elevator doors closed, she almost ripped off her helmet before realizing that she was probably being monitored still.

She had thought that going after Cerberus would help her get some closure, but if anything she may be getting worse. She knew why she had gone off like that, she'd been that way for years, but she used to be able to stop herself.

After coming to in the hospital after Dad died, she had been in a haze. Demanded an Omni-Foundry and literally built her own eye while still in her hospital bed. People hadn't talked much to her then, but when they talked to each other they called her tough, said it came with being a Shepard.

First kid who mentioned how her Father's death she had beaten, badly. First teacher who tried to get her to open up about it had gotten worse. Eventually she learned to stop herself, to deal with their platitudes, and to say the right words to the shrinks. Still didn't change one thing about her.

She didn't deal with death well.

Sure, she could dish it out. But rip something from her, and she raged. And with this rage she knew that Eva Shepard was dying, and she was scared that one day something else was going to be in her place.

Her Omni pinged, Valern had seen fit to send her the coordinates to the meet. She assumed that meant she still had a job, for the moment at least.

S&amp;S

Arriving at the docking bay she noted that the V.I had managed to land the ship exactly where she wanted it, the extra time spent on the program was finally paying off.

"Alright Shepard, I'm above you in case this goes sideways. But if your contact is successful you will be solo for this mission. Your Spectre authority will be flagged as genuine, so just blow through any red tape you come across." Nihlus' voice projected itself into her ear.

"Understood. I'll activate _Shanxi's _beacon so you can follow, but keep your distance unless I send you a signal to move in."

She hard Nihlus chuckle into his mic, "Glad to see you understand what I meant by solo."

She glanced towards the entrance of the hanger. A singular female figure in dark armor was approaching, she was helmeted but the shape of the body made it incredibly easy to guess the gender.

"I take it you are the contact?"

The figure didn't reply until it made its way to her, a cultured but accented voice hit her ears, "Indeed, now are we going to board or do we wish to give Mr. Toombs more time to get ahead of us."

"By all means, you first." Shepard activated the ships ramp, "The seat in the rear please, I don't intend for you to fly, or do anything but tell me where to go, and then to be very quiet"

"Of course Spectre, it is after all your ship." The woman clambered into the rear seat, while Eva secured herself into the pilot seat.

"Do you have a name that you go by. I don't intend on using pronouns for this entire mission."

"Solheim will do spectre, as for our first location. Bekenstein is the closest possible location he could have traveled to that he is aware of."

Shepard quickly ran through her pre-flight check, before guiding the ship out of the hanger. In the back of her mind she acknowledged that she was on a quest to kill a man that she once considered a friend, but he wasn't that man anymore. And if she was being honest, she wasn't the same anymore either.

S&amp;S

They arrived too late, Toombs had drawn less attention to himself this time. Though not of his own choosing it seemed, they had hit a small holding company. But this time Toombs was accompanied by merc's, Solheim suggested that he had hired them with funds from the Broker, though Shepard herself felt that they could just as simply be broker's men in the first place. The armor they wore proclaimed no affiliation with the more known bands, but they were clearly professionals.

Two dead night workers was the civilian death toll here, while three Cerberus agents had been executed. She paused over the third victim, noticing a small almost dart like object in his neck.

"That's odd." She gingerly pulled the dart out, holding it out so that her Cerberus counterpart could scan it.

"I'm getting traces of Thresher venom off of it, looks like he has outfitted himself with some kind of heavy dart thrower. Batarians sometimes use them when they are boarding ships with a high value target, armor will deflect them, but it can go through joints easily enough, neck as well."

Shepard sighed, "Just what he needed, the ability to hit his targets from a distance. But why bother? He already had them at his mercy?"

Solheim just shrugged, "I wouldn't expect much reasoning from a mad man, come by the time we get back to the ship I should have our next target."

"Shocking that you downplay your own part in this, from what I understand the man was fine before your group got their hands on him."

Solheim simply continued walking away, either she didn't care to debate the subject, or she just didn't care at all.

Shepard updated Nihlus as to what they had found, arranging for a cleanup crew to get to the scene before anyone else caught wind of what had happened. That would keep the Council happy at least.

Shortly before they reached the ship Solheim's Omni flashed, she tapped several keys, before a single file appeared before her. "Eden Prime, a ship of ours just spotted a ship that launched from here recently, he's still transitioning there. But it is the only possible base in that area. If you can fly that ship fast enough we may catch him before he leaves."

They both broke into a run at the news, Eden Prime was not a world either of them wanted Toombs loose on.

S&amp;S

They tracked him down to the city Constant, the capital of Eden Prime, Solheim directed them to a small crop modification lab on the outskirts of the burgeoning city. An innocuous enough building, but apparently Cerberus was very diversified, she wondered if there was a single industry that they weren't involved in.

It took them a few minutes to scout the outside of the building, concluding that at the very least Toomb's mercenaries were still here. "This is off, he's never lingered in one spot this long before."

Shepard frowned, she didn't want to agree with Solheim but something was off here, she activated her uplink to her ship, sending Nihlus the go ahead to move in, she wasn't risking Toombs escaping if they failed.

She popped off her two turrets from the slots on her arms. Setting them up to the left, and right of their cover, allowing them to have a full coverage of the main entrance of the building. While they weren't as effective as having actual living beings for backup, the turrets might make the merc's think their numbers were greater than they actually were.

"I'm going to climb on to the roof of that neighboring building. When you see me get on top of the lab activate the turrets, I want you distracting them while I blow a hole in the roof."

"This plan seems needlessly risky, if we wait we can catch them in the crossfire."

"You're assuming he's going to leave through the front door, I'm not risking that he calls in a ship, or just blows his way out the back. I am ending this now, not later."

Not waiting for Solheim to argue further she slipped across the street, the building was secured, but a flash from her Omni and she was in. It was a standard pre-fab building, which meant it would have an access ladder along the rear spine of the building.

Finding the hatch she quickly ascended to the roof, peaking around she saw no patrols. She took off across the roof, hurling herself across the gap between the two buildings.

Solheim had kept to the plan, Shepard could hear her open fire on the building, sporadic yells rang out from the building as the merc's moved to respond to the attack. Shepard quickly moved above where Solheim had told her to place the charges.

The moment she went to place the first charge however the world lit up, and she felt gravity angrily wrench her downward.

Her ears were being deafened by her kinetic barrier alarms, and status indicators began to flare before her eyes as she hit the floor in a sickening crunch. Her leg now bent at an awkward angle caused her to collapse, her rifle went scattering across the floor. Everything seemed to blurr as she moved her head, but she made out two humanoid figures. One wearing the nondescript black armor, the other was obviously Toombs, still wearing the bloody armor he had taken from that Cerberus base he had escaped from.

Not Toombs had a gun on her, and knocked her pistol off of her armor with his foot before she could stop him. As her hearing began to return she was aware that Toombs himself was talking.

"-told you that charge would do the trick, pity that we caught a Spectre, but it's not like they are innocent either." He lashed out a viscous kick into her midsection, "If you lot did a better job then Akuze wouldn't have happened! What nothing to say!" He kicked at her again, the impact was just as strong but this time she wasn't seeing double, so she was counting that one as a win.

Toombs turned around, picking up a rifle like device. "Let's see how you deal with the agony of tissue death Spectre?" It made barely a sound, but she could feel the impact in her neck, she swiftly felt the burn as the venom began to destroy her body from the inside out.

She had lived through this before though, she had dragged her carcass across a battlefield with this toxin in her veins. A fucking dart of the stuff wasn't going to stop her, it wasn't even going to make her top ten.

Toombs didn't appreciate her efforts though. "Ugh, come on! Scream! Thrash! Do something," He turned to his companion, for a reaction. Which he did not receive.

"She's not half as fun as those Cerberus lackeys, don't you want to live Spectre. Begging sometimes helps, but not often" She refused to answer, trying to keep both her rage, and her pain, from making her do something stupid. Toombs seemingly uninterested in prey that didn't want to be toyed with just turned away, throwing his hands in the air, "Just kill her, no fun to be had here." The mook turned to look at Toombs, and just like that she had her opening.

Shepard's interface display flared in front of her eyes, Omni-Sword: Activated.

At that her Omni-shield emitters changed positions, instead of forming a shield a significantly larger than normal blade appeared to be emerging from the top of her forearm. She lashed out at the legs of the merc in front of her, aiming at the weaker armor of the knees. The man, now significantly reduced in height, tumbled downward. Directly on to her waiting blade.

"Well, that was unexpected." She turned to see that Toomb's had already tossed a canister at her, belatedly realizing that it must contain the Thresher acid. She took the impact on her left side, a small amount hit the side of her helmet, she needed to get out of this armor, but first she had to deal with Toombs.

"Don't worry, it only gets better from here. I should know, Cerberus wanted to know the rate at which the acid could decay through armor. They stuck me in a suit, just like this. Would test different compounds to figure out what was the most resistant to it. So tell me when you feel the pain, I'm curious as to how Spectre gear holds up compared to Cerberus."

She focused past the pain, and let her rage fuel her actions. "Why don't you come over here and see." Her body pulsed blue for a moment, and Toombs flew towards her, unable to fight the mass effect field she had hit him with.

She slashed upwards and across as he came into range. Carving through his chest until she caught his heart, she quickly deactivated the blade and began to rip her armor off of her. She tossed her helmet across the room, but some acid had already splashed across her cheek. She literally pried off her shoulder guard, getting it off before any damage was done. She pulled her forearm armor off with her increasingly wrecked right hand, but the acid manged to get through there as well. She bit back a scream of agony, but she managed to rip off the last of the compromised armor.

She passed out soon after, among the ruined wreck of her armor, and the corpse of her former friend. Somewhere in the back of her mind she realized that Solheim was still out there fighting, but she also didn't care.

S&amp;S

She briefly woke once in what looked to be Nihlus' ship, but she wasn't awake for long enough to be sure.

When she fully regained consciousness she found herself in a hospital room. They were easy to spot regardless of the species who built them, somehow everyone built sterile environments the same way. A Turian doctor appeared soon after she had tapped the small button built into the bed's left side.

"Ah, Spectre good to see you are awake. You've been out for several days, you haven't lost any functionality to your left arm, though you were scarred rather severely. If you like we could do some cosmetic work to remove it."

"No, I, it's fine. Leave it." Somehow it seemed right, to be marked for killing a man she once considered a comrade.

"Alright then, we'll keep you another day for observation, then you will be free to leave."

As he left she began to take stock, glancing down at her cyberlimb she realized the mess she had made of it. She groaned, testing her uplink to the Omni installed to make sure it was still running. Seeing that it was she started a diagnostic to determine the damage.

After an aggravatingly long wait, to her, a schematic of her arm popped up with the damage highlighted. "Athame's tits." The hand was completely gone, and a chunk of the forearm would need to be reforged as well.

"Good to see that time with Vasir manged to work it's way into your cursing." She glanced up seeing Nihlus leaning against the frame of the door.

"I take it you are the one who got me here?"

"Yep, managed to get you to my ship without any locals spotting you. My ships medical station kept you stable, and I managed to get you back to this Spectre facility. So don't worry about people seeing you without your armor on, everyone here is vetted by a Councilor."

He moved across the room to sit down on a chair near the bed, "The council is pleased by the outcome, you managed to stop him without any further embarrassment. Your Cerberus counterpart escaped, she bolted the moment the last merc died. Funny thing is you two fight similarly, lot of mixed biotic and tech attacks, looks like someone has a nemesis." The Turian was smirking at her, "Always wanted a nemesis myself, name I could curse if I failed a mission and the like."

She laughed at that, "I don't suppose you could get me access to a top of the line Omni-Foundry? I seem to be in need of some repairs." She lifted her right arm up to showcase the damage.

Nihlus nodded, "Once your on your feet there is one in the facility, but for now try to rest."

She grumbled but obeyed.

S&amp;S

She went to work the next day, the hand was simple enough, as she was just remaking the previous design. But the damaged forearm section she was redesigning with an Omni-blade emitter built in, the emitter would speed up the time it took for the blade to form, and had the benefit of surprise as it would literally appear from her arm.

She and Nihlus boarded his ship after that, he had apparently picked up _Shanxi_ as she was sitting in his cargo bay.

"The council wants to brief you in person, these type of briefings go either very well, or the opposite." He seemed to be talking from experience, so she took him at his word.

"I can't exactly walk in like this." She gestured at her unarmed state, Nihlus simply pointed at the locker on the wall.

"Same design as your previous set, though you will need to recreate your previous upgrades. I figure that will at least give me a few hours of peace and quiet so that I can get some sleep, unlike some people around here I didn't get to nap for a few days."

Shepard nodded to Nihlus, as she began the enjoyable work of modification.

S&amp;S

She entered the same room as she had before, though there was a lack of a chair in the center of the room this time. All three seats were also filled, Sparatus having deigned to show his presence.

Tevos was the first one who spoke, "The Council is pleased with the result of your mission, you will be given a brief respite so that you may prepare for your final evaluation."

Shepard was confused by this, "Evaluation? I'm flattered that you think I'm ready, but I've only been doing this for barely half a year."

Valern responded, "Yes, but evaluation only means you are an official Spectre. It conveys that we believe you are no longer just a candidate, but rather an instrument of our authority. You will still be given missions of lower priority than our more seasoned agents, it is an impressive accomplishment nevertheless."

Sparatus finished, "Take this time to begin to set up your own network of contacts, we do expect Spectre's to be self-sufficent. You will of course be given funds to get yourself started, but after that do not expect to be coddled."

Shepard needed to ask a question that had been nagging at her, "And what if I fail my evaluation? You haven't brought up that possibility."

Tevos almost had a smirk on her face, "These missions tend to be highly lethal Shepard, if you fail, death is likely all you can expect."

S&amp;S

Mirix Varan once again walked into the office of Barla Von, the Volus glanced up setting the data pad he had be analyzing on the desk in front of him. "Hello Thessia-Clan, I assume the Broker can be of some assistance to you today?"

She shook her head, "No Barla Von, today you can be of assisatance to me. I believe you are just who I need to make several investments with."

The Volus almost ran over to his terminal, "Of course, I have a particularly viable H3 operation that is in need of a backer. An estimated 40% return on investment, plus a foothold in a growing section of Terminus space."

"Tempting, but I am particularly interested in any major foundaries." A series of strokes resulted in a handful of options popping up.

"Only 30% returns on these Spectre, but if you are insistent the Earth-clan based Orion would be the suggested route. They process their own raw materials, so in the long run you will see a greater return if there is an upswing in commodity prices."

She nodded, "Excellent, I'll send you the numbers soon. I'll also take you up on that H3 operation, but I want a guarantee with the backer that I will have access to the station anytime, no questions, no fees." She paused briefly, "Whatever extra I send invest as you see fit, though I will want full reports bi-weekly on everything I'm currently involved with."

"Of course Spectre, I wouldn't dream of operating any other way."

"Oh, and please inform me if any investment opportunities into Synthetic Insights presents itself."

S&amp;S

She had been surprisingly assigned an apartment already on the Citadel, it was shielded from view so she could actually walk around without armor on, which was a plus. It was, nice she supposed, but had none of the charm of her last place.

She was working on her V.I program when her Omni pinged, she frowned. It was a ping she had set up for Liara, but Liara had never responded to any of her messages since. She glanced down at the message, it was simple but it's contents were troubling.

'I know you are on the Citadel, I'd like to explain why this won't work, in person.'

How could she know? Liara was just an archaeologist, she paused briefly, before going with it and uploaded the coordinates to her apartment.

She began to pace, unsure what she should expect. "Fuck this," she walked over to her hiding spot under the table and pulled out her pistol. She attached it to her right hip, to hell with impressions she wasn't taking a chance here.

Not long after, the door chimed, triggering it remotely she coldly watched as Liara entered.

Liara looked at her, then at the pistol, she wasn't afraid but she seemed, disappointed? "I'm sorry for ignoring you Shepard, but shortly after our meeting, I was contact by my Mother. She told me that you were a candidate to be a Spectre." She sighed, "Before you ask my Mother has many connections, including Saren. At first I didn't want to believe it was true, but then Aethyta confirmed it. Someone named Vasir is apparently a chatty drunk."

Shepard frowned, "So what? That I'm a Spectre means that I'm suddenly off limits? You didn't seem to care much when you thought I was just some lonely human?"

Liara's just seemed to radiate sadness, "I know what being with a Spectre can do to someone, this was the first communication I had from Mother since she began to corroborate with Saren on some project. I can already see how it has changed you in such a short time, and I'm not interested in becoming something else Shepard. As much as I might want this, I don't want it at the expense of me."

Shepard blinked, she didn't even realize she was crying. "Liara, I understand. It's just, there, there isn't a lot of me left to fight for. And I don't know if I think it is worth fighting for any more. And maybe, just maybe, whatever will come out of all this rage, and pain, will be a better person than what I was going in."

Liara didn't respond for a time, she finally nodded. "Perhaps it may be better for you that way, but I don't know if I want to know that person. I like what's left of you, but I can see that this is something important to you. And I can understand that."

Eva sighed, "I'm not angry with you Liara, I'm just kind of angry in general I guess. And I want you to know. If you ever need my help you just need to ask."

Liara gave the saddest smile she had ever seen, "Thank you Shepard, maybe in another life?"

Liara turned, slipping out of both the room, and Eva's life.

S&amp;S

Shepard walked into the briefing office on the Citadel, Nihlus was already there but that wasn't so surprising given that he had called her.

"Is it time for my evaluation?"

Nihlus glanced up at her from his seat at a long table, nodding. "Indeed, the mission will take place deep inside Hierarchy territory. There is a budding insurgency, one that hasn't gained enough traction yet that a visible response from the Hierarchy is necessary, so we have a time sensitive window where we can deal with this threat with minimal civilian casualties. Your mission will be to get in there, and eliminate the leadership, quiet will be preferred but if you need to go loud just make sure the job gets done."

"Seems simple enough, do you need the cargo space? If so I can move _Shanxi_ out."

Nihlus shook his head, "You misunderstand Shepard, I'm only giving the briefing for this mission."

Confusion played across her face, "Then who will be overseeing the mission?"

"That would be me, Human." She turned to see the silver bulk of Saren Arterius in the doorway, "Try to not be any greater of a disappointment than the lost human I was forced to work with."

AN: Thanks to all those who have clicked various buttons underneath this message.

Reviews as always appreciated, plus kind of curious if you guys prefer this cleaner, in my opinion, dialogue style. Or the more blocky paragraph dialogue style.


	7. 1st movement of the odyssey

AN: The name is a reference to the Arbiter missions from Halo 2, I actually really enjoyed them compared to most people I know.

Thanks to those who follow, favorite, or review this story. Special thanks to silver Ebon hawke who got me to reexamine some things I had planned.

Song: Invincible by Extreme Music

Nihlus' Theme: Left Foot Trapped In A Sensual Seduction (AKA: Alucard's Theme) by Yasushi Ishii

S&amp;S

Saren's ship was a Turian corvette, the smallest class of military ship that wouldn't require a large permanent crew to operate. He had further modified the ship, adding in numerous advanced systems to handle various tasks about the ship, enabling the Turian to control the ship effectively by himself.

Ironically this was done mostly through the use of numerous advanced V.I's, something that had only come into vogue since the appearance of humanity on the galactic stage. While the Asari, and through them the Council, had always been opposed to V.I advancement. This attitude was often assumed to have come from the Geth incident, but it did in fact predate the exodus of the Quarian's from Rannoch.

Humanity however, had held no such cultural reservation in that field. As such Human V.I's were the most advanced on the market, though that was not without some controversy. Humanity wasn't the most popular kid on the playground right now, and the fact that they kept on pushing the biggest taboo in the galaxy probably wasn't the best way to make friends. But standing here in the middle of Saren's vessel she felt a kind of smug pride, plus Saren was a racist asshole at best, so that he had to use human tech on his ship tickled her.

She had made sure to bring enough provisions to last upwards to a month, extra medi-gel, and several containers of Omni-gel in case repairs were needed. She had also brought the V.I she had been working on, the project had escalated quickly, instead of simply an advanced flight program it was quickly becoming the ultimate assistant. Numerous hacking programs, combat packages, fighter and gunship tactics, all of them being combined into an increasingly complex beast of a virtual entity.

It didn't have a name yet, though she had taken to calling it by female pronouns. She hadn't noticed that she was doing it until recently, probably one of her shrinks would find it fascinating, she just went with it.

Saren stalked into the room, glancing briefly at her before activating a set of monitors.

A small garden world appeared, a massive complex of foundries scored the world like an open wound.

"This is Tarsus, one of the Hierarchy's major military foundries, everything from pistols to tanks are forged here. This is being jeopardized by a growing resistance movement among the populace, one of their principal arguments is that the foundry has used up all the available in system resources, and that it should be relocated to a world with more abundant natural resources."

Shepard glanced at the size of the foundry, "A construction of that size would have taken lifetimes to develop, you can't just lift it up and ship it through a relay. The cost of moving it alone would never be eclipsed by the increased shipping fees."

Saren nodded, "Correct, but it is a convenient and popular enough idea that a set of individuals has used it to their advantage. There is a cell of a Turian terrorist organization at work here, we do not give them names, unlike you humans we don't see the point in acknowledging traitors. There are three primary targets."

An image appeared of a dark gray Turian, a large portion of the right side of his face was covered in a burn. "Solan Trictus, had been an average Turian civilian. But he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, got caught in the crossfire during another insurrection. Apparently he chose to blame the wrong side for what happened to him. He tends to limit himself to public relations work, likely he is the one behind the anti-foundry movement as well."

The screen flicked again, displaying a lithe looking dark brown Turian female. "Kria here is an unregistered Turian biotic, no record of any life before she showed up as an insurrectionist. She has been seen, or at least positively connected, to seven incidents in the past twelve years. If you spot her expect the crowd to be filled with hostiles, she excels at dirty warfare."

The presumably last image flash, this Turian was like Solan a dull gray, but despite his seemingly ordinary appearance Shepard spotted something that worried her. His eyes mirrored those of Toombs right before she put him down, nothing but madness and hate in them.

"He's the primary threat isn't he?"

Saren glanced at her briefly, seemingly debating whether to humor her. "Julcar Victus, despite his name he is only distantly related to the primary Victus line. He lost most of his family in the Relay 314 incident, went on a bit of a killing spree against your kind for some time. He was eventually caught, and when the Hierarchy didn't fight for his right to murder monkeys he took affront. Escaped from C-Sec custody and somehow was put in contact with these traitors."

He keyed his Omni again, several scenes of carnage played across the screens. "He enjoys his work, far too much for him to be motivated by anything other than sadism. He has a tendency to make families of victims watch, but always leaves one alive. Other times he has been known to engage in, hunts, with civilians or soldiers as the prey. While he is not a professional soldier, he is a dangerous individual, favoring explosives and incendiary devices. If you engage him, kill him."

"One last complication, is this." An image of what appeared to be a city schematic appeared, a large blinking square under the northwest corner drew her attention. "That is an emergency bunker, it is also the terrorists fallback position. If they get in there we fail, it will take nothing short of a direct orbital strike to take out that building, and avoiding a military response is why we are here."

"Could the structure be hacked, give us control of the doors, environmental controls, defenses?"

"No, it's encryption is state of the art. So if they get to that building you lose." He paused for a moment, a smirk on his face, "and I am proven right, again."

He shut down the screens, "That will be all, we will take an unmarked shuttle down to the surface once we arrive to maintain anonymity."

S&amp;S

Soon after they arrived in system, she strapped herself in to a chair that didn't quite conform to the human form, but it was better to be safe than comfortable. Saren was piloting the shuttle, leaving her to sit alone in the passenger compartment.

The ship shook lightly from them entering the atmosphere, she tapped open her V.I's interface. "Whenever we get to the surface I want you to start trying to breach that bunker's defenses."

'Ma'am, the Spectre advised against such an approach.' The text scrawled across her interface, the V.I insisted on being formal at all times.

"Yes, well I have faith that you can beat whatever it is the Turian's can throw at you."

'Praise will not encourage me to work harder Ma'am.'

"Well, we'll work on that won't we."

'Of course Ma'am."

Shepard was about to respond when a sudden lurch sent her flying into the straps of her chair. "Saren, what in the tides is going on!"

"Missile just took out the starboard engine, it seems that we may have underestimated the severity of this scenario." A second hit rumbled through the hull, she felt a shift in momentum as the ship entered into a free fall. "We're going to crash in the middle of the city, regardless of what happens human complete your mission."

Stars exploded in her vision of her head bounced off of the wall behind her, the ship screeched as metal impacted against the ground. Her head thudded against the hull again, the ship violently shifted, the wall opposite of her buckling as it collided with something outside. Finally after what seemed like an eternity the ship came to a halt, she hit the release on the straps, slowly extracting herself from the seat.

"Saren, come in?" When there was no response she frowned, she shakily made her way to the weapon locker that had been damaged when the hull buckled. Prying open the doors she found the wreckage of her Vindicator, "Great, hostile environment and all I've got is a pistol."

She staggered her way to the rear hatch, popping the manual releases to open the door. As daylight began to stream inside she spotted movement on the outside, three Turian's with rifles were advancing down the street towards her.

Her Omni flared as she hit the middle most one with an overload, she drew her pistol with her left hand firing on the now unprotected Turian. Having taken out one of her targets she sprinted out of the shuttle, slamming into cover before the Turian's body crumpled to the ground.

His compatriots reacted like novices, gawking at their now dead comrade. She lashed out with an incinerate, catching both Turians in the blast. Their weak consumer kinetic barriers flared, then died, they own lives were quickly snuffed out as Shepard drilled both hostiles in their skulls.

She scanned the street, detecting no movement she dashed over to one of the dead Turians. She grabbed his rifle, it was uncomfortable, but serviceable, it also used a standard council heatsink so her thermal clips were useless now. She turned back, looping around to the front of the shuttle, she could see the extensive damage the front of the shuttle had taken. The front canopy was nearly destroyed, Saren's beaten body was slumped in the pilots seat.

"Shit."

She reached inside the busted cockpit, pulling the injured Turian out she dragged him across the street. She slammed open a nearby door leaving Saren lying just inside the door frame, she moved throughout the building ensuring that no one else was inside.

Satisfied she dragged the Turian inside, then closed the door behind her, stepping back into the light of the street. "Alright, do we have access to any surveillance, camera's, drones?"

'Yes Ma'am, I have located your three suspects. The closest is Kria, she is currently attempting escalate a peaceful protest near the local militia station. It is roughly nine kilometers to your north-west.'

A small indicator popped up on her HUD, "Alright, good job. How far along are you with the bunker?"

'I have broken through approximately 13% of their defenses Ma'am.'

"That's my girl." With that she took off into a controlled job, while hacking a sky-car would make things faster, right now surprise would be more of an advantage.

S&amp;S

She could hear the mob well before she saw it, not wanting to risk running into civilians on the ground she broke into a nearby building. She moved swiftly upwards, using it to gain access to the roof. Stopping to access the nearby drone feeds her V.I had appropriated she determined that there were no patrols on the roof, surprisingly sloppy work for Turians.

She hefted the odd rifle, it was mid-way between a sniper and an assault rifle. Personally if she had some more time with this weapon she would probably like it, in fact she could probably modify it to her liking. But as it was the stock was too long, the trigger wasn't shaped for her hand, and the sight wasn't designed to hook up to her cybernetics.

But, as she lay prone of the roof, the weapon laying on the ground in front of her, Kria in her sights, she was pretty happy with it. She pulled the trigger several times, her cybernetic arm absorbing the recoil keeping her aim true, the rounds slamming into her target's barrier, and finally her flesh.

The mob reacted as she expected, some reacted violently, most panicked and fled. Her V.I highlighted a new target, another known associate of Kria, she shifted her aim another handful of trigger pulls and another target lay on the ground. Keeping tight fire discipline to avoid overheating four more insurgents followed before she took off, content to let the militia handle the affair from there.

"Alright who's the next closest target?"

'Victus is roughly 15 kilometers to your west, he is in a high rise tower along with several squads of militia soldiers. He appears to be, hunting them, Ma'am.'

"Great. Alright try to figure out what floor he's on. I'm going to get a car."

She sprinted from her position on the roof, jumping off into the street below. Her biotics flared as she slowed down her fall. She dashed down the street spotting a car that would suit her needs, her Omni quickly overrode the security of the vehicle. Pulling herself into the driver seat the quickly triggered the vehicles mass effect drives.

Pulling the vehicle into a climb, she slammed the throttle forward rocketing towards the building. "Alright what floor is he on?"

'He is currently on the twenty ninth floor, and moving his way up. Ma'am I am also detecting a missile launch. I believe we are the target.'

Shepard could see the trail the missile was leaving in it's wake in the rear viewer on the console of the car. "Kind of caught on to that. Hack the safeties on this thing, remove the limiter. Now!"

Shepard could feel herself push back into the seat, as the vehicle pushed past the safety limits placed upon it, this wouldn't buy her a lot of time. But it might buy her enough time to get to the building. A small timer had popped up in her display, informing her of the time until impact.

'Ma'am eight seconds until detonation.'

"Why give me the timer if you are just going to tell me anyway?" She pushed the vehicle into a dive, aiming for the windows of what she hoped was a floor in the thirties.

"Oh this is going to hurt." Glass shattered as the car slammed through it, she was thrown against the restraints as the car bounced into the floor. The dulled sound of an explosion, coupled with a violent shaking indicated that the missile had caught the edge of the building. Her sense of accomplishment quickly left her when a support column caught the car in the side, sending the car spinning through several offices, before it violently halted when it slammed into the reinforced central elevator shaft.

Her body flared in pain, but nothing that would stop her from completing her mission. She shoved the canopy open, grabbing her new rifle on her way out. "Where are we, and where is Victus?"

'We are currently on the thirty third floor, Victus is on the thirtieth.'

She moved through the ruins of office spaces, reaching an emergency access stairwell she began to make her way down a floor. "Is there a militia group between myself and Victus?"

'Yes, there is one in the north-west corner of the building. They have fortified one of the corner offices of the thirty first floor, and are attempting to call in an extraction team."

From what she had seen of Victus the man would want to see his work up close, and she planned to use that against him. She jogged over to the area that was above the soldier's holdout, planting the charges she kept on her to the floor directly above their position.

She jogged back to the stairwell, quickly peeking down to ensure Victus wasn't moving up it. She dashed down the stairs, throwing herself into an office that had vision of the hallway leading up to the militia, she winced lightly as her damaged side flared angrily at her maneuver.

While she regretted using the militia as bait, and likely as her sacrifice to take out Victus, she didn't shirk from her duty. Sentimentality was a good way to get yourself killed on the battlefield.

The elevator pinged, several figured emerged from its small confines. In the rear was Victus, the only figure equipped in military grade armor, sporting a platoons worth of explosives on him. He carried a Phaestron, but she suspected that he wasn't as partial to it as he was the items that hung from his armor.

As the first of his men entered the hallway several reports rang out, the poorly equipped insurgent fell forward, blood oozing across the floor underneath his prone body.

Victus pointed towards the hallway, "Take back your planet my brother's! This isn't the hierarchy's world to pillage and ruin!" The men reacted with a zeal that surprised her, she had assumed they were here by means of intimidation. She hefted the rifle, trying to get it into a more comfortable position, in the end it didn't matter, they were targets regardless of motivation.

Shots rang out as the rebels charged the militia's position, Victus behind his men pulled a large charge from his belt.

She nearly lost her footing as the charge rocked the floor, she rolled into the hallway, seeing Victus standing in a now ruined hallway. But the explosion hadn't been enough to take out the floor above or below, so her plan was still in play.

He turned, "I heard a report that someone had gotten to the building, but a Spectre? I'm almost embarrassed that I'm important enough to warrant the attention of one such as you." His rifle flashed as he opened fire on her, but she was already dashing out of his line of fire.

Taking cover behind a wall, she shouted out to her adversary, "You have a reputation as a man who likes explosives Victus."

A grenade impacted against a nearby wall rolling towards her position, but she dived out of the way before it could go off.

"What can I say? It's a gift."

She rolled into the hallway, seeing that he was about to toss the second charge in his hand, when her body flared blue, he arm extended as she flung a field at him.

"I'm a fan of them myself." She called back to him, Victus could do nothing as the field slammed into him, sending him flying into the ruined office that had formerly held the militia. She triggered the charges remotely, causing the ceiling of the room to come crashing down on top of Victus, a soft thump indicated that the charge he had been holding had gone off as well.

She advanced cautiously, spotting the prone body of Victus buried under the rubble. She fired two shots into his skull to make sure he was dead, just in case.

This may have been a mistake as his corpse exploded immediately thereafter. Sending her flying through the glass and away from the building.

As she tumbled from the building she rapidly began activating protocols in her armor she hadn't been able to test yet, something inspired by Nihlus' drop gear.

'Ma'am we don't know if this will work.'

"Well I think now constitutes a good time for a field trial." As the ground rushed up at her small put exceedingly powerful engines built into the suit fired, it also felt like she had slammed into a brick wall. The jets worked for approximately three seconds, until she was hovering near the first floor of the building she had fallen from, and then the rocket on her back exploded. The remaining engines though continued to work, which probably made things worse.

"Fuck!" She hurtled off balance, slamming into the side of the building. She slammed her fist into the wall hoping to find some purchase, but found none. "Shut them off!"

In retrospect she should have probably moved away from the building before yelling that, but instead she slammed her helmeted head against the building. Before tumbling away awkwardly, her ineffectual attempt to slow her fall with her biotics led to her slamming into the top of a sky-car.

'Warning, damage to left arm, possible concussion, possible damage to-.' She phased out the V.I's droning, doing her own internal check. She was hurt yes, but still in operational capacity. She groaned as she brought herself up to a sitting position.

"Where is Trictus?"

'Ma'am, you are injured, surely given the situation it would be understandable if you withdrew.'

She glanced around, she had lost another rifle. A pity she was starting to like it, reaching down she found that her pistol had stayed in place. "Come on old friend, we're got a job to do. Trictus' location, now."

'Very well Ma'am, he is currently retreating to the bunker. I have nearly stripped all of their security, but we will need a hard link connection.'

"Otherwise they could just shut down your remote link, got ya." She stumbled off down the street, there wasn't much distance to cover until she reached the bunker.

S&amp;S

She was too late to catch Trictus at the entrance of the bunker, but it mattered little to her overall plan. However the sudden flaring of her barriers, reacting to multiple rounds striking her, just might derail things. She painfully threw herself sideways, taking cover behind one of numerous cars.

Glancing she spotted one of the shooters on a building above her position, she leveled her pistol on him, catching him twice before he ducked below cover.

The other shooter must be ahead of her, as rounds continued to impact off the car and ground near her position.

Suddenly however the shooter she had fired at went flying from the top of the building, landing to the ground with a sickening crunch. Several reports followed, and the rounds that had kept hitting her position halted.

Saren's silver head appeared on the rooftop, "Well I see that you managed to make a mess of things human."

She growled, "Big talk from someone who managed to get knocked out five minutes into the mission. Just cover me while I finish this."

She of course had heard stories from Anderson about Saren, so she wasn't going to rely on him to cover her. Discreetly dropping her two turrets behind her she set them in incognito mode, limping her way to the closest console she engaged the hard link with their systems.

'I have control, what do you wish for me to do Ma'am.'

"Does the bunker had an internal oxygen supply?"

'Yes Ma'am, it was seen as a necessity in case of a catastrophic event.'

"Pump it out, and lock them in."

'Yes Ma'am.'

Saren was looking at her impassively, not hearing the exchange she was having with the V.I he had no idea what her plan was.

The voice that came over the loudspeakers built into the bunker however, did. "You cowards! Don't have the stomach to do your dirty work yourselves! There are innocents in here! Let them out and we'll surrender!"

She glanced at Saren, who shook his head. "Never take a desperate man at his word, a lesson you will do well to learn."

A status indicator in her helmet indicated that her turrets had detected targets, she drew her pistol leaning past Saren to get a clear line of sight. More of the poorly equipped insurgents were charging their position, likely in the hope of saving their fellows.

"Company." She hurled an overload into a clump of them, her turrets shredding the poorly outfitted rebels into bloody ribbons. Saren growled, flaring brightly as he tossed a warp into another group, the biotic field ripping them apart.

It continued that way for some time, the two damaged council agents scything through the insurgents like wheat. It became a kind of twisted dance routine, made of bullets, tech attacks, and biotic fire. Eventually though no new dance partners joined the fray, and the surviving members of the troupe attempted to recoup. Saren himself was leaning heavily against a wall his breathing was heavy but not erratic. He was talking to someone on his Omni, "Yes, the ringleaders has been removed. As has most of the resistance, yes I need a shuttle sent to my location, no I don't care that there is an evacuation going on. Just get me that damn shuttle, or do I have to get the Primarch on the line."

He turned to her, "A shuttle is on it's way. Then I am getting you off my ship, and out of my talons as quickly as I can."

She didn't really care what he growled about, she had a backup plan for if he tried to screw her over. After all you didn't install a graybox just to remember old movie facts.

S&amp;S

She found herself facing the Council once again in the same room, they were all in attendance, even Sparatus who didn't look to be entirely annoyed by her presence this time.

Valern uncharacteristically began this meeting, "Congratulations are in order, you accomplished your objects despite numerous unforeseen consequences. An excellent trait for a Spectre, wouldn't you agree Sparatus."

The Turian's mandibles flared, obviously unhappy, though whether it was at her or Valern she was unsure. "Spectre Arterius has given us his recommendation, stating that you are, and I quote, "The second least useless member of your species he had been forced to deal with." I believe that is meant to be an endorsement of some sort." He sighed, before locking his vaguely avian eyes on her. "But as Valern mentioned you did accomplish your goal, and you did it largely without any assistance. As such we have agreed that an upgrade to full status is in order."

Tevos had a small frown on her lips, "There is however another matter of business that we must attend to."

Shepard was unsure what was wrong, nothing had occurred that could jeopardize her cover, and the mission was successful.

"What is the problem Councilor?"

Tevos tapped a hidden icon on the desk, "The matter of your death Shepard." A screen popped up from the desk, a headline of the newest Citadel News Network headline scrolled across it.

'Citadel scout ship found destroyed, the bodies of the vessel's crew have all been accounted for, it is currently presumed to not be an act of piracy given the lack of looting. More information as it is made available to us.'

Shepard's mind blazed at this, "But the crew shouldn't have been all accounted for, unless you had the details faked before it released to the media."

Valern shook his head, "We planned to, but someone had gotten to it before us. Unknown party, though it could be the Broker, he is known to traffic in such knowledge, use it as leverage against you later."

Tevos shut off the display, "That does not diminish your use to us, or your service thus far Spectre. Understand though that while we can protect you from some threats, an organization such as the one behind this, is out of our reach. For now though, this meeting is adjourned, take some personal time Spectre you deserve it."

As the Councilor's began to file out Sparatus held up his hand, "A moment please Spectre."

He waited for his compatriots to leave the room before approaching her, "You have done a great service to the Hierarchy today, and we would see you rewarded. Expect to receive a not insignificant credit reward for your services to my people. And know that you have my respect for a job well done."

He turned to leave but Shepard spoke up, "One request Councilor, I came across this rifle in the field, it is of Turian make but I had never encountered one before." An image projected itself from her right arm, showcase an image of the rifle as it had been laying on the ground. "I was wondering if I could get the schematics for them."

Sparatus nodded, "I recognize it, they were made in a small production run for combat on Amar. Yes, I don't believe that it will be an issue to get them for you." He started to walk away before pausing, he turned back to her inclining his head briefly towards her, "Spectre." Before he too exited the room.

S&amp;S

She found herself at home checking up on Liara when a knock sounded on her door, she ignored it knowing that Tess would tell her who it was.

'Spectre Kryik is here Ma'am.'

"Let him in." She swivled in her chair to see the Turian enter the room, he was carrying two cases, one in each hand. As he set them down she smiled, realizing he had brought liquor.

"Your V.I is getting kind of chatty, sent a message to my Omni telling me that beverages of this nature are optimally served chilled. Why does she even know that?"

She shrugged, "Tess likes to learn things, I don't plan on stifling her."

His face took on a confused look, "Stifling her? And for that matter what does Tess even stand for?"

She smirked, "It doesn't stand for anything, she stumbled across the name and decided she liked it."

His face went from confused to wary, "She named herself?" Shepard merely nodded, Nihlus' mandibles shifted a little. "I'm going to need one of those non-optimal beverages sooner than I thought."

She laughed, reaching over and cracking open a beer from the case that sat opposite of the box he reached into.

He raised his drink to her, "Congratulations Shepard, I knew you had the potential. The fact you manged to impress Saren just made it all the sweeter."

She tapped her drink to his, and enjoyed a night with the only friend she had who knew she was still alive. Well, until Vasir showed up.

S&amp;S

Miranda sighed, it had been difficult creating a body that could fool C-Sec's systems. But a flash clone, followed by extensive damage to the body to mask the lack of cybernetics could do wonders when someone wasn't looking very deeply.

Of course this had all been done off the books, Hannah knew that the Illusive Man would blame the Broker, the Broker would blame him, and neither of them would think that it was just two people acted quietly on their own.

Hannah had been with Cerberus from the start, as such there was a fair number of individuals who owed her favors, there were even some who were more loyal to her than to the organization they were technically a part of. She had only called on her contacts for help a few times, and almost always it involved protecting one of her daughters, behavior that Miranda knew would eventually lead to trouble but how could she speak against it when it had benefited her in the past.

Miranda sighed, sinking deeper into the couch, trying to push away the guilt at going behind the Illusive Man yet again. Those feelings soon vanished as she heard a clink on the table near her, a small mug of cocoa steaming there, that mug though represented why she knew she would go through with such an action again.

"Miri relax, everything will be fine." Hannah's voice was soothing to her ears, she supposed a mother's voice should be to her child, biological or not.

Miranda sighed, "And what if he finds out?" Hannah reached out, patting her arm.

"If that happens then I will take all the blame, but I won't ever apologize for protecting my family. If I had to go against Cerberus to protect you, or Eva I would do so in a heartbeat."

Miranda picked up the mug, staring into the still steaming liquid. "It's just that, aside from you, Cerberus is my family. I don't like putting them at risk, I know Evalyn is your daughter, but she isn't my sister."

Hannah nodded, a faint frown tugging at her lips. "Maybe not at this moment, but maybe someday that will change, and you won't regret having come to her rescue. Now come on, drink your cocoa it's getting cold."

S&amp;S

AN: This chapter was a pain for me to get done, but it eventually just came together in one long fluid session.

For the record I have not read the novel that has Anderson's evaluation in it, but quite frankly I'm of the opinion that Anderson wouldn't have been a good Spectre. I based Saren's characterization as a mix between his Evolution self, and his ME 1 self. Superior but willing to engage with a human to protect his own people, which should be noted was his main goal all along, killing humans was just a beneficial by product to him.

And no I don't plan on turning Shepard into space batman, plus given that she kills people she's more like a gadget using space Wonder Woman.

All this tech thus far has been seen in the games themselves, or is an advancement of tech seen in the games. I'm just bringing some of it in to vogue a little early, Evalyn is a little like a toned down female Tony Stark, essentially she is just a few years ahead of the curve. (I can't actually remember what the name of the alternate reality female Tony is at this moment.)

Reviews are always appreciated.


	8. Order of operations

AN: I'm going to toss the year these events are happening in for the rest of the story, Spectre life isn't all shootouts and foreshadowing. So enjoy a chapter filled with shootouts and foreshadowing!

For the record Tess isn't an A.I, just a sophisticated V.I. Like Jarvis from the modern Iron Man films, she also doesn't speak. All of her communications are via text, she hasn't found a voice type she likes yet.

Thanks to those who have clicked those buttons at the bottom of the page.

Song: The Spine by Darren Korb

S&amp;S

2179 CE

It was a few months later, and the human news agencies had finally stopped running stories on the rise and fall of Evalyn Shepard. Her Mother of course knew the truth, but she played the grieving but stoic solider card well. Anderson had taken it hard from what little of it she had seen, but she tried to not look too deeply, it was hard to be guilty about something you weren't aware of.

Shepard had only gone on a few missions here and there, due more to the fact that she was one of the more adept Spectres when it came to data mining. Currently she was tasked with keeping tabs on tech firms for suspicious activity, as well as the Eclipse mercenary company due to their focus on bleeding edge tech. Shepard was currently analyzing several after action reports involving some new cyberware that had just appeared on the market when Tess pinged her.

'Ma'am, the Hanar embassy has contacted you.'

Shepard starred at the message for a few minutes, her mind briefly unable to process the oddity before her.

"Um, Why?"

'Apparently it has to do with someone called, Jack?'

Shepard slammed her head into her desk, "Where are they holding her?"

Tess swapped the image on her console, a system on the edge of Hanar space appeared. The image further zoomed in on a nearby planet, highlighting a secure facility on that planet.

'She is being held here, she has been charged for, vandalism?'

Shepard sighed, "Trust her to make me drag her out of jail for a misdemeanor."

S&amp;S

She guided _Shanxi _on to the landing pad in front of her, she ship had lost its older white and blue color scheme, now it was a gray-black with red highlights streaking across her hull.

As she popped open the canopy she spotted a drell approaching her, she jumped from the cockpit landing on her feet in front of the drell.

"Greetings Spectre. The criminal claims that she has some form of immunity against our laws, one that you are here to explain."

Shepard sighed into her helmet, "Bring me to her first, then we will talk about this."

"Of course Spectre." The drell began to lead her inside the complex, leading her past rows of cells.

"Jack didn't hurt anyone when she was brought in did she?"

The drell shook her head, "No Spectre, she cooperated quite willingly. She did however mention that you were going to, and I quote "Shit yourself.""

"Yes, that certainly sounds like her."

They stopped in front of a cell, the young tattooed woman inside glanced up. A smirk crossed her lips, "Told ya greeny, I'm protected."

Shepard walked towards the cell, "Hello Jacqueline, I hear you've gotten into some trouble. Vandalism seems a little, low key for you, doesn't it?"

Jack sauntered up to the cell, a wide smirk across her face. "Ya turns out, that is what the Hanar call it when you crash a space station into a moon. And they really like that moon."

"A space station? Do you really expect me to believe that." Surely she would have had that pop up in one of her reports.

Jack smiled at her, "You remember that station where we met, piece of junk, filled with people I thought were friends? Then they just try to sell me out, and a Spectre of all people gets me out of there. So I took some time, thought up a plan, and sent them on a one way trip into that moon, the one the Hanar really like." Jack chuckled, "This one does not appreciate your actions young human. Fucking priceless right."

Shepard sighed, "Fine, I'll straighten this out, but this is your get out of jail free card. I won't be bailing you out again Miss Nought." She turned towards the drell, "Please bring me to whomever is in charge."

The drell nodded, bringing her further into the compound. She found herself being led into an office that held a Hanar whom she assumed was in charge. The alien jellyfish was watching several monitors of the compound, so she assumed he must be the warden of the facility.

It turned to face her, flashing as it communicated via strobes of light. "Greetings Spectre, this one has been informed that you wish to have human female released."

She groaned inside, as polite as they were she still hated dealing with Hanar. "Yes, she is currently involved in a Spectre investigation, and her being incarcerated puts the entire operation at risk. I hope you understand that I am unable to go into specifics, but I'm sure you can understand that sometimes we must allow such trivial matters to pass."

"The young human crashed a space station into one of our moons. This one hardly considers it a trivial matter."

"But you charged her with vandalism? And aside for the criminals that were killed when the station crashed, I have seen no evidence that anyone else was harmed by the event. Was there some form of business interest directly affected by this incident?"

"None, that this one is aware of at least."

"So was this incident any different from say an asteroid impacting the moon?"

"This one does not take your meaning?"

"The way I see it, is that like an asteroid hitting your moon, this was simply an act of fate. Now unless you plan on trying to make a fuss, I will be taking Miss Nought with me. And if you do make a fuss, well you will have a very annoyed Spectre in your office."

"This one takes your point, the young human is free to go, but she is not to return to Primacy space. This one bids you farewell Spectre."

Shepard turned around, the Drell once again leading her back to Jack's cell. Her companion accessed the panel next to the cell, causing the bars to slide away. "Come along Miss Nought."

Jack smirked as she left her temporary home, "Thanks Varan, always fun to have you bail me out of trouble."

Shepard gestured for Jack to follow her, "Move quickly, the Hanar are quite adamant in getting you out of their territory, permanently mind you. Yes, congratulations Jacqueline, you managed to piss off the politest species in the galaxy."

"What can I say, work with your strengths."

As they reached _Shanxi _her canopy opened up, as Jack clambered into the passenger seat Shepard paused starring down the younger woman.

"Miss Nought this was your get out of jail free card, don't expect me to bail you out again."

Jack frowned briefly, before a small smile tugged at her lips. "So guess I shouldn't bring up the little trouble I ran into with the Hierarchy."

Shepard just hung her head, "What did you do Jack!"

Her smile just grew bigger, "What can I say, parades are boring."

S&amp;S

Shepard ducked her head under the cargo crate she was using as cover. "You are becoming an extreme liability Miss Nought."

Jack simply laughed from her position across the hallway, she was standing behind a support column for the warehouse they were pinned in. "Hey you wanted bait, not my fault their plan involves catching you too."

Shepard sighed, leaning around the corner sighting her new rifle, which she had dubbed a Raptor, on one of the Cerberus lackeys down the hall. Several quick trigger pulls later and he had a nasty wound in his right arm, but he wasn't out of the fight yet.

"Jack get them to keep their heads down, just keep buying time I have a friend coming." The force of the shockwave Jack tossed sent both crates and hostiles flying, Shepard lashed out with an overload frying the shields of those hostiles not stuck in the open.

Jack took down one of them with a burst from the Shuriken Shepard had tossed her when they first met, "Forgot to thank you for the gun."

Shepard took down a further two with her rifle, before a sniper round slammed into her right shoulder, the round penetrated through her armor, but it didn't penetrate the armor overlay of her prosthetic. "By the Goddess where do they all keep coming from." She pulled a charge from her side hurling it at one of the support pillars further down the hall, a dull thud was the precursor to the screech of metal as the walkway the sniper had been on came crashing down to the floor.

Jack's maniacal laughter filled the room, "We need to hang out more often." Her body flared as she slammed a warp into the dazed sniper, the man's screams filled the room as the field ate through his armor and flesh.

Before Shepard could respond the wall behind them blew open, a large reptilian head popped inside and she found herself starring at Wrex. "I don't have all day, come on."

Shepard activated her shield, "I'll cover you Jack, get to Wrex. You can trust him."

Jack nodded, ducking behind Shepard so that she could maneuver out the hole Wrex had made. Shepard tossed her turrets down the hall, they quickly unpacked opening fire on the remaining hostiles inside the warehouse.

Hoping that the turrets would keep the hostiles in the building busy Shepard backed up, moving through the gap in the wall behind her. The warehouse had been on the edge of a construction site, one that was now a scene of carnage that she imagined Wrex was very proud of.

A sky-car spun in a lazy arc as Jack flipped it on several Cerberus lackeys, "Tess, any luck isolating their command frequency."

'I have not fully isolated it, but the signal appears to be approaching at speed. I believe that it may be a gunship Ma'am.'

"Tides, Tess take control of _Shanxi _and get over here. I'm not fighting a gunship with a rifle." Shepard fired several bursts at a hostile who was trying to flee from Wrex. "Wrex they have a gunship coming, we need to hold on for reinforcements."

Wrex slammed another Cerberus agent into a nearby warehouse wall, "I thought I was the reinforcements"

Shepard dashed towards a nearby cargo loader, rounds pinged around her as she ran. "Unless you can take out a gunship by yourself I think you won't be enough!"

Jack's voice rang out, "Hey Varan, think you can hit this target." Jack's body flared as she tossed a bank of power cells towards a group of Cerberus soldiers setting up a heavy turret, as Shepard overloaded the cells a flash of white light momentarily blinded her. As her vision quickly returned all the remained was a crater, Jack let out a whoop at the destruction.

The celebration was short lived as several explosions signaled the arrival of the gunship, "Tess you better not be obeying traffic laws right now."

Just as she had yelled that the _Shanxi _streaked by, seconds later several rockets slammed into the side of the gunship, it's larboard engine now engulfed in flame the ship listed out of control.

"Move! Move!" Shepard shouted as she tried to put ground between herself and the out of control gunship. The vehicle smashed into the warehouse they had started this little soiree in, exploding soon after it slammed into the ground. But in the confusion she didn't notice the figure that had dropped from the out of control ship.

"Don't move pyjak!" She turned to find Wrex aiming his shotgun at a human in infiltration gear, his face was partially obscured but she recognized him all the same. Kai Leng, he had been in her class at N school, before he had been discharged a year before Akuze. He was xenophobic, narcissistic, and extremely dangerous.

"Wrex just shoot him!" Before Wrex could though Leng had already taken off, the blades in his hands blurred as he slammed then into several spots in the Krogan's body. Leng had been discharged for killing a Krogan on shore leave with just a standard issue blade, so she wasn't feeling very good for Wrex' chances right now.

"Tess I need you to swing back here and pick Jack up, I'm not letting Cerberus get their hands on her."

She fired several shots at Leng, a few flaring off his shields but she wasn't dealing with some merc for hire here. "Jack my ship is on it's way back here, get on board as soon as you can!"

Jack looked like she wanted to argue, "Don't argue with me Jacqueline!" The roar of an engine overheard signaled that Tess had brought the ship around, "Go! I can handle this." Jack nodded taking off running for the ship.

Leng seemingly content to ignore Shepard, began to run after Jack, Shepard sighed, "Always were a cocky son of a bitch Leng." She pulled another charge from her belt, hurling it towards a nearby crane. The scream of metal caused Leng to pause, a mistake on his part as the structure came tumbling down on top of him.

He took off running, forced now to engage her or be crushed by the crane. She tossed aside her Raptor, and pulled out her Hurricane. Firing swift controlled bursts to keep him back, she lashed out with an incinerate, immolating the area that he had ducked behind for cover.

He rolled out of the flames, his arm flinging something towards her. She felt pressure of an impact in her side, glancing down she spotted a dagger now sticking out of her torso. "Be too fashionable to use a gun like a normal person." She was knocked backwards as his bulk slammed into her, but she manged to bring her now active shield up to block his next strike.

The bastard was grinning at this point, "For an Asari you put up a good fight." She merely grunted as she lashed out with her shield, incinerate protocols activating as she started the registered movement. She could hear the smell the sizzle of flesh and fiber from where she stood, but Leng to his credit didn't scream. Instead he drove his knife directly into the emitter on her arm.

Her body flared, sending him flying back with a point blank push, damage alarms flared across her HUD. Her tech attacks were still active, but anything that used the emitter on her arm, namely her sword, and shield, were offline.

Leng was back on her before she had time to recover, slamming her to the ground he drove a knife through her left arm. She cried out, quickly realizing that the blade was pinning her arm to the ground, Leng was holding down her right arm thankfully unaware of its less than natural state.

"Any last words Spectre?"

"Tides take you human."

Leng was about to make another smart ass comment when her right arm, engulfed by a biotic field slammed into the side of his head. The blow sent him sprawling away from her, giving her enough time to yank the knife out of her arm.

She pulled herself to her feet, a quick search found that Leng had fled, or been recalled, whichever came first she supposed.

She limped over to Wrex who was still on the ground, "Hold on Wrex, I've got a plan." She still wasn't adept at using stasis in combat, but she could use it to keep him stable while she waited for medical support.

"Tess summon medical aid to my location, tell them to prep for a Krogan."

'Should I also inform them to prep for you as well Ma'am?'

"No, we aren't too far from a Spectre way station. I'll just think happy thoughts until then."

'Of course you will Ma'am. Miss Nought wishes to know if you are alright, though I believe she didn't want me to inform you that she asked.'

Shepard laughed lightly at that, "Tell her I'm fine, drop her off at the spaceport before you pick me up. And forward her enough credits to get to wherever she wants to go. And tell her it's not charity, just payment for what happened here."

'Of course Ma'am.'

As she waited with Wrex for the transport she pulled whatever remaining knives that were stuck in her out, the medi-gel built into her armor automatically deploying. As she enjoyed the spreading numb sensation she realized something was missing from the battlefield.

"Bitch stole my gun!"

S&amp;S

Miranda was grinning ear to ear as she read Leng's after action report, the man who thought of himself as the most dangerous being in the universe, gets beaten by Evalyn after she had used up most of her toys. Of course he didn't know it was Evalyn, but even still it amused her greatly.

But that was enough fun and games, she had work to do. While the merc's used in the attack had no known affiliation with Cerberus, Leng had enough of a reputation that little argument could be made against him being an agent. Which made him one of the most quickly exposed agents they had, only three years and already he was exposed.

She sighed, it wasn't like he had a life outside of the organization though. Not that she was one to talk, but she always valued her option to be able to walk through the Citadel and not be arrested. As if to prove this statement she was sitting in a corner of a cafe she was rather fond of on the Citadel, the report she was viewing was being fed to the glasses she was wearing. A small alteration on a device that Evalyn had made when she was younger, Miranda would never deny that the woman was a genius with tech.

A frown tugged at her face, Evalyn was an exceptional human being, but unlike Miranda she was exceptional based on who she was, while Miranda was due simply to what she was. Hannah always told her to stop thinking like that, but it was the truth wasn't it? Sure there were similarities, both she and her 'Sister' were beautiful, but Miranda's looks were too perfect, while Evalyn's flaws only made her all the more incredible. Hell the woman managed to make wearing a cybernetic arm look good.

They were both intelligent, Miranda of course was gifted at everything her father had wished her to be. While Evalyn let her passions lead her to her chosen fields, something that Miranda envied. Miranda was certain that she was the smarter of the two, but that wasn't something that she had accomplished on her own, just another part of her engineering.

Christ the two of them even fought similarly, Miranda of course had had the best tutors possible. Her biotics were flawlessly balanced between control and power, her ability to manipulate the battlefield with tech was second to none, and she was a damn good shot.

Evalyn on the other hand was an odd mix between brutality and finesse. One second using forethought and planning, the next brazenly smashing everything in sight. Of course that may have something to do with her unstable psyche, something that she knew Hannah worried about. But there was no denying that she was an extremely dangerous fighter, and that was only being further refined as she was a Spectre. And unlike Miranda her 'sister' insisted on pushing the envelope, she didn't just sabotage a gun, she turned it into a weapon. She didn't simply ignite a target, she firebombed a location.

This was only further proved by the rifle that Leng had appropriated. What had been a one-off Turian design had been turned into a long range marksman rifle. The Illusive Man had ordered them into production for some side project of his, though it wasn't one that Miranda was privy to. There was an increasing number of such programs, and she was becoming worried about that fact.

Hannah told her not to worry, but she was certain that they were being cut out of the loop because of Evalyn's actions. Miranda had managed to convince Hannah to move Orianna and her family off the books to Illium. As far as Cerberus was concerned they were still on Horizon, knowing that her baby sister was protected from immediate reprisals did waylay Miranda's fears significantly. But she still felt like she was betraying the people who had gotten her away from her father.

She was shaken out of her reverie as a small glass was placed on the table in front of her, she glanced up at her server in confusion. The Asari simply smiled, "From the gentleman at the bar Miss."

Miranda glanced over at him, decently built, wearing something that was slightly out of fashion but still looked good on him. Accessing the facial recognition functions in her glasses his data began to appear in front of her. Everything was in order, clean medical history, and he was a climber over at Eldfell-Ashland energy, a useful connection. She put a small smile on her face, as she didn't want to come off as too interested. And she supposed that she could use a small break, picking up the glass she made her way over to the bar.

S&amp;S

Shepard was letting Tess bring _Shanxi _in for a landing at the way station, she didn't want to risk crashing the ship even if her injuries weren't that severe.

Wrex of course had been pissed that she had saved his life, grumbling about how he was going to end up owing her one for the rest of his days. Then he'd taken offense when she tried to tell him they were even. Just pointed one of those stubby arms at her growling, "I'll tell you when we're even."

She had left it at that, and beaten a hasty retreat so that Tess could pick her up before someone tried to give her medical attention. It wasn't too hard to notice her blood wasn't purple after all.

Two of the stations medical personnel rushed to greet her, insisting she get on the gurney that they wheeled out with them. Knowing better than to argue with a medical professional, not because they were always right, they were just all too damn stubborn, she obeyed. What she didn't agree to was the syringe they stuck in her neck, but whatever was in it acted too fast for her to voice her dissent.

She came to in an unfamiliar room, though it was similar to the one she had found herself in following Eden Prime, she groaned glancing around the room. Not spotting anyone, and finding nothing out of the ordinary, aside for the medi-gel patches slapped across her body, she took stock of her injuries.

Well by injuries she meant damage to her prosthetic arm. She brushed her fingers over a nasty looking dent, likely where the sniper round had slammed into her, but there was no actual damage so she ignored it for now. The upper section of her forearm would need some small rewiring, and replacement of the top panel, but overall it was in better shape than she thought it was going to be in.

Another groan escaped her as she brought herself to her feet, the wound in her side wasn't very happy but she was not going to sit around here and do nothing. She found one of her spare body-glove's sitting one a chair next to her armor, though it was going to need some work before it was in top shape again.

She sighed pulling on the tight bodysuit, before hitting the summon button built into the bed.

The Salarian who walked in the room saw her out of her bed, and proceeded to have what looked to be a heart attack.

"Spectre you must get back in bed, your injuries still need time to heal."

She went to pick up the container her armor was in, but winced before she could get very far with it. Glancing at the Salarian who was, if anything looking worse than he had been a few seconds earlier, she addressed him.

"I need two things from you, someone or something to move my stuff to the foundry in this station, and directions to said foundry. That is all, I will not debate this subject, you will simply do what I say. Unless you want me to take offense to the fact you drugged me without permission when I arrived."

The doctor seemingly decided that discretion was the better part of valor in this instance nodded, "Of course, but, um, one thing. The council wishes to speak with you, in the comm room. Take a left down the hall, third door on your right."

"I expect you to have this taken care of then by the time I'm done."

She didn't bother waiting for him to respond, she simply left the room. The station like most of it's kind were simple, utilitarian in nature. There were twenty-something of such stations scattered across Citadel Space serving as secure areas for agents to report in, a place to resupply, or in the worst case scenario a place to get patched up. After all not every Spectre had access to a ship with secured communications, or would always be operating from within their own supply chain. The Council didn't bankroll Spectre missions to keep their own liability at a minimum, but they were willing to pay to keep their agents supplied, and alive.

She stepped inside the dim room, several holo-projectors began to hum the moment the door shut. Three figures hazily began to shape, until shortly she was starring at the grainy images of her bosses.

Sparatus began, so she figured they were mad at her. "You were given explicit instructions to give Cerberus a pass Shepard. I know you don't like it, neither do we, but a deal is a deal."

Oh they should have had Tevos do this, he was stuck and he didn't even realize it. "I was unaware that I was supposed to pick and choose which deals I uphold. The only reason I came into confrontation with Cerberus was because I was fulfilling an earlier arrangement with Miss Nought. An agreement which I believe occurred prior, to the one you made with Cerberus."

Tevos' glare could probably have melted Sparatus if the man wasn't oblivious to anything other than his own voice, "What my colleague meant Spectre was that you should have withdrawn once you ascertained that it was indeed Cerberus."

Valern interjected up before she could respond, "Hard to tell if opponent is Cerberus, often use proxies and middle men to accomplish objectives. Could be argued to have been a simple misunderstanding, brought about by Shepard fulfilling a previous agreement. Assuming that your arrangement with Jack is over with, I see no further issue."

Shepard suppressed a grin as Tevos was blindsided by the Salarian, "Yes I informed Jacqueline that she could no longer expect my assistance, as for Cerberus. Well as long as they don't shoot at me, I won't shoot at them."

Tevos realizing that this was a losing battle just nodded, "Thank you Spectre, we hope you have a speedy recovery."

As their images faded away Shepard sighed, Nihlus had told her to expect this. The Councilors would from time to time curry favor with the Spectres, it was sometimes just for prestige. If for example an Asair Spectre answered primarily to the Turian Councilor that was seen as quite the coup politically on his part. But what she was more worried about was when a Councilor needed a certain Spectres skills, and she did happen to have an extensive skill set.

But that wasn't a problem to be dealt with right now, now was time for her to fix up her gear, and then get the hell off this station.

S&amp;S

Hannah Shepard slung a bag over her shoulders and exited her new quarters on the Kilimanjaro, her posting here had been delayed for several months while she argued with an army of shrinks that she be cleared for active duty. They felt that she was suppressing her grief over Eva's death, of course it was hard to grieve for someone who wasn't dead but she couldn't tell them that. So she had told them what they wanted to hear, and ended up sitting around doing nothing aside for the occasional mission for Jack.

If she was being honest she wasn't even that happy with her promotion, it was just another step towards piloting a desk after all. Of course she wouldn't argue against getting put in command of one of the new Jupiter class dreadnoughts, the ship class that officially didn't exist on the books. But there wasn't much that happened in the Alliance, official or otherwise, that Cerberus was unaware of.

Which of course had to remind her of this business with Eva, and the young woman from Pragia, why they continued to hunt down that poor girl was beyond her. And sending Leng after her? Had Jack simply decided that the simplest plan was killing the girl? Thank goodness that Eva was there, at least someone was looking out for Jennifer.

She entered into the ships gun range, pulling out the beaten and weathered lancer she had in her bag. The gun had been with her a long time, though she had let Eva get at it once. How that girl managed to fit another heat sink in that frame she could never understand. She hit the activation for the holo targets, her body's honed reflexes taking over. And while her body worked her mind began to wander again, back to her earlier train of thought.

Hannah didn't delude herself, she understood why Cerberus existed, she had been there from the very beginning after all. But she had agreed with the vision of an organization defending humanity from the rest of the galaxy, not one that experimented on their own people. There was a line that needed to be observed. Hannah understood that once in a while someone would go over that line, it was simple human nature.

Miri may buy Jack's lines about necessary evil, but Hannah had seen the slippage over the years. She hoped that it was simply moral decay, the kind that occurs when one man trusts only his own judgment for far too long. But if she was being honest, what terrified her was that whatever had happened to him back on Shanxi was finally taking a turn for the worse, that what happened to Ben was simply taking longer to affect Jack. And eventually there would be nothing left but some twisted creature of metal and flesh, one that she was certain would not be looking out for humanities best interests.

A sigh filled the room, that was enough wallowing. She deactivated the room and packed up her gear, she had a crew to break in. And she needed to make some rainy day plans in case her worries about Jack were correct.

S&amp;S

Shepard had barely gotten into her apartment when her console indicated that she had a incoming call, she groaned, flopping into the chair before hitting the accepting the call.

Valern's face came into view on the monitor, Shepard let out a small chuckle, he didn't waste time she would give him that.

"Already calling in your marker Councilor."

The figure on her screen nodded, "Unlike my compatriots I don't have the luxury of time when it comes to such matters, I prefer to only play such games when I have need of the services of a particularly skilled individual. Especially if they by chance, forget to file a report."

She would have said that normally reading between the lines was how these meetings went, but well there was a whole paragraph in there plain as day. Which meant that something had gone very wrong.

"I understand Councilor, what is it that you need from me?"

"A more detailed file will follow, but a short version is that the STG had one of their researchers go rogue. Jeparth Sanis was researching if installation of cybernetic hardware could be used to extend our life expectancy. All tests failed, but he became obsessed with preserving the mind synthetically. When his experiments were discovered STG agents attempted to detain him, they failed."

Shepard was glancing through the file as he talked, noting that he had last been seen on course for the Citadel. "You think he is here? On the Citadel?"

Valern nodded, "It would give him access to much of the tech he needs, and it is surprisingly easy to disappear on this station. If one knows what they are doing."

"Alright, so what do I do when I track him down?"

"Eliminate him, and remove all traces of his research. The Asari are upset enough at your race over this type of research, I am not putting my own race in the crossfire because of one madman."

"Understood."

S&amp;S

AN: Pretty sure I spent more time trying to find a beta reader, than I did writing since my last chapter. No catch yet, but I'm stubborn that way. Anyway, let me know what you thought of this chapter. Or PM me if you have a question, I always enjoy a good distraction.

As for Miranda in this chapter, girl has self-esteem issues, I mean it is kind of her defining characteristic aside from loyalty to Cerberus, and her sister. I can't see her having Shepard as a pseudo-sister figure being a net benefit for her confidence. Of course that was all in her head there, not like she would ever let it show, except maybe to Hannah.


	9. This has all happened before

AN: This was by far the most aggravating chapter thus far to write, just didn't want to work with me I guess.

Okay so I'm wondering if this story wouldn't benefit from me rolling it into ME 1, I'm fully up for finishing this story if people do want me to. But I was curious if you guys think I should jump to ME 1 and work these in as flashbacks. So I'm curious what you guys would prefer, finish this story up, which will probably be another 4-5 chapters by my current reckoning, or jump ahead?

The reason for me keeping this short is that I don't want to get bogged down in five years worth of stories, when I could integrate the good one's into the ME 1 plot line. Also I'm essentially writing one-shots at this moment, as with the exception of a few plot points I have planned out I just kind of do a monster of the week format right now.

Song: The Heart of the Void by Skylar Cahn

S&amp;S

2179 CE

It amazed her how a little hair dye and a set of contacts could make a human nearly unrecognizable, she had found that most species tended to focus on a human's hair as an identifier, something which she used to her advantage here. She was currently investigating a string of odd robberies, all of them involving components that could potentially be used to produce a bluebox, which she believed to be linked to the target Valern had given her. Of course to be inconspicuous she couldn't go in as her Spectre persona, so she was incognito as Helen Smith a merc looking for new tech.

This was of course just an excuse to get inside the locations so that Tess could pull whatever she could from their networks. While C-Sec had of course responded to the thefts, these components were on their own rather benign in nature. Unless you were actually capable of creating an A.I, a list which Eva was on, it was not a jump that the layman would make. Especially given that her target had made sure to spread out his thefts across numerous precincts, and so here she was hacking the security feeds of these businesses to find out any clues that C-Sec had missed.

She struck gold with the fifth location, a depot that supplied "Morlan's 'Famous Shop." Morlan's was a small kiosk that supplied low level illegal mods near Chora's Den, while the depot itself was located in Bachjret ward. It was situated in an area that Fist used to cover for his smuggling operations, and it was Fist's feeds that she was hacking into, something that C-Sec couldn't do without a warrant, being scared of the Broker didn't help much either.

"Got anything yet Tess?"

It wasn't that she was worried that one of Fist's thugs would try to start something, she was after all wearing a light combat suit underneath her civvies, plus she had her ever present Carnifex in it's hiding spot. But it was always easier to not take unnecessary risks, plus it stank around here.

'Ma'am I have identified a vehicle that the culprit used, reported as stolen by C-Sec. I believe that he may be in the Kithoi ward.'

She made her way out of the district, chatting with Tess as she went.

"What makes you think that?"

'Given the location that this vehicle was stolen from, I have noticed a pattern that coincides with the robberies Ma'am. They have all been taken from the same relative area, an industrial zone used primarily for fabrication of station necessities. The reports have been mostly ignored given the high rate of crime in the area, but the pattern is there.'

"Alright good work, check to see if any buildings are currently not in use, or have had an unusual increase in power usage as of late. If he is trying to make a bluebox that takes a lot of specialized tools, all of them drawing a lot of power"

'Of course Ma'am.'

Shepard summoned a car to the nearest platform, it wouldn't hurt to swing by her place to grab some extra gear. Never knew when you needed to blow something up, especially when crazed Salarians are involved.

S&amp;S

Saren scowled at the ship setting down, it had been hours since the scout had left to investigate the artifact he had spent years tracking down. However he was no fool, he had seen with his own eyes what this thing had done to that Human researcher, and so he had sent in scouts. They had gone dark the moment they got in the ship, and while he had hoped it was simply the ships shielding, they also hadn't responded to hails. So here he stood, fully armed, armored, and ready to blow all the atmosphere out of this room given a moments notice.

The ramp hissed as it opened in front of him, the form of his lead scout Vaarn walked in an almost dazed fashion. He was holding some form of strange device, almost waist high, and made of a metal that was familiar to the Spectre, it was the same material that the covered the device Desolas had dug up years ago.

"Vaarn, status report. What did you find." Vaarn just continued walking, setting his burden down in an unoccupied portion of the room. Saren stalked towards him, spinning his scout around. "Spirits Vaarn! What is wrong with you!"

"**That would be our doing, Saren."**

Saren whiled towards the device on the ground, an angry blazing hologram of the artifact hovered in front of him. The device, now apparently active, had numerous red screens hovering in front of it, casting an ominous crimson glow through the hanger bay.

"Spirits what is this thing. Nothing in the data mentioned a V.I."

"**Virtual Intelligence, a rudimentary attempt to safeguard your species from the cycle. We are beyond your understanding Saren."**

"Even better, an A.I with a god complex. Look, machine, The Citadel Council is decidedly against synthetics, so I will give you a choice. Tell me how to help Vaarn, and give me what I came here for, and perhaps, the Citadel Fleet doesn't need to get involved."

"**The organic exists only due to a chance, it is insignificant, we have given it purpose towards something higher. But you, we have summoned for another reason."**

"You didn't summon me, I tracked you down."

"**We placed those tracks, we have watched you, we have evaluated you, to be certain that you could be of use to the cycle."**

"And why would I help you machine? Unless you have something to offer me I'm not interested.."

"**We do not ask for your assistance, we demand it. If you decline, then understand your entire race shall be but ash. We offer you the chance to earn your species a reprieve."**

"If you think that I'm going to believe that you can destroy the Hierarchy you are mistaken. No fleet, let alone a single ship can stand up to the Turian fleet."

"**Disappointing."**Suddenly hundreds of images appeared were projected before him by the device, planets burning, races he had never seen lay dead everywhere, twisted hulks of synthetic and organic fused together, and everywhere he saw ships like the hologram in front of him. **"Feel free to continue on your path to oblivion."**

Saren could only stare dumbstruck at what he saw before him, if even the smallest portion of these images were true, then, how could any species hope to contend with this threat. Could he risk the chance that this, thing, was in fact not bluffing? Was he willing to risk Palaven as Desolas had?

"If I agree my people will be safe?"

"**They will be allowed to survive this cycle."**

Saren grimly nodded at the projection, "Then I accept."

S&amp;S

Shepard was rummaging through her desk, grabbing a false identification card in case she ran into trouble. "Tess you set up that new identity through C-SEC right? I would like to avoid them having a dead woman pop up on the scans."

'I finished while you were grabbing your explosives Ma'am.'

Shepard patted the disguised charges on your belt, "What can I say, I like to be prepared."

'Ma'am, do you really expect to run into a tank?'

"As the only person in the conversation who has fought a Krogan, I know what I'm doing."

Shepard activated the retractable wall to let her into the workshop she had built into the apartment, several sets of armor lined the wall, some modifications of the model she wore as Varan, some were simply ideas she had in her head made real.

She grabbed a small discreet kinetic barrier generator from her storage, while such devices were not uncommon they all had the same design flaw, once the shields failed once, the device was fried. But it was better than having to rely on solely on her barriers.

She moved over to one of the light suits of armor on the wall, popping off various items, gauntlets, leg guards, and the like. Which she then installed on to the current suit she was wearing, unfortunately she didn't have the option of affix a power generator, so her omni's shield and sword protocols were not going to be an option.

Shepard slipped over to her desk, picking up the palm sized device that lay on the surface surrounded by numerous tools. She tapped a slot on her arm, ejecting the data chip that held Tess. She took the small chip, popping it into her prototype blackbox, a stepping stone on the way to a bluebox. While Tess wasn't an A.I, the box was designed to give her room to grow, so to speak. It was also equipped with numerous safeguards to protect her from being hacked, something that would be a boon when facing a potential hostile A.I.

'Ma'am, I believe I was offline for a moment there. It is, rather roomy in here.'

Shepard laughed at that. "It should keep you safe if we do end up dealing with an A.I. Now hold on a second, I have some new protocols to upload."

She tapped several icons on a nearby console to initiate the transfer process, uploading numerous cyberwarfare suites into her assistant. These protocols were the best work she had ever done to date, though she wasn't entirely sure how Tess' architecture would handle them truthfully. The V.I was such a hodgepodge of different protocols that the fact she functioned as well as she did amazed Eva.

'This feels, strange, Ma'am.'

"You okay Tess?"

'Yes, I, I think so Shep-Ma'am.'

Shepard decided to bring up the formalities again later, for now she slipped the small device into an armored port on her hip, it was rated to take a direct blast from a Widow so she was confident Tess would be safe.

"You up for taking on an A.I?"

'Yes, yes I think I would like that. Ma'am.'

S&amp;S

The Illusive Man frowned as he saw the message hovering in front of him. An invitation from an old friend to talk, something he knew the Turian would only do if he had no other choice. It had happened before, but what troubled the man once known as Jack Harper was he had no idea what event could have pushed Saren to this course. Any other time it was due to events that Harper knew about, after all it was hard to keep something from his organization, regardless of the region of the galaxy it was occurring in.

But speculating further would get him nowhere, sometimes you simply had to play the game, and hope that you came out ahead. Tapping the control on his chair a holo-projector on the floor hummed, soon the figure of a silver Turian was standing before him.

"Saren."

"Jack." The image looked from left to right, "Is Eva not going to join us, it could have been just like old times."

The Illusive Man frowned at that, all of them had tried, and failed, to forget the events that Saren's brother, Desolas, had set in motion. Harper's own reminder was only a single reflection away after all, but it was unusual for Saren to mention him, especially to the man he held responsible.

"Unfortunately Eva is busy at the moment." He paused a moment, bringing the cigarette to his lips. He took his time, savoring both it, and the growing irritation of Saren. Exhaling the smoke he continued, "As much as I would love going down memory lane with you, we both know that you contacted me for a reason."

Saren nodded, "Yes, though in this case I could say our pasts are coming back to haunt us. I've come into possession of knowledge regarding the beings who created the device Desolas uncovered, and they are coming back Harper." Saren paused, talking to someone out of the projector's range. "I've instructed your people here to upload the data I found as soon as they have verified it is safe. I might hate you Jack, but I know you are willing to do whatever it takes to protect your people, I am willing to do the same. But the Council, they will bury this, and in the end it will be too late."

Jack set down the whiskey he had been sipping at while Saren had been talking, "So what exactly do you expect me to do Saren? Cerberus is not the Alliance, we may operate for the betterment of mankind but we can't fight mankind's wars for them."

Saren's mandibles flared slightly, "I only ask Jack that you look at the data before you decide your course of action, perhaps it is time for your organization to take a more proactive approach. I didn't come here to convince you though, I came here to give you the tools needed to be an asset and not be a hindrance in this fight, goodbye Jack."

The image soon cut off, but the data began to stream in. Jack spent hours analyzing it, and it was as if he had been trying to complete a puzzle with half the pieces missing from the box. Piece by piece the picture came together, and with it a plan, a means to ensure not only humanities survival, but their ascension to their rightful place in the cosmos.

No matter the cost.

S&amp;S

The industrial district was sparsely populated, due mostly to the fact that there was little need for people to be on site to run these factories. As such it was difficult for her to approach the building undetected, but it also meant that she didn't have to worry to over civilians getting involved.

She smirked at the location her target had set up in, it was pure cliche. Abandoned warehouse, random power spikes, mood lighting, if she ran into a psychopathic clown she was going to start painting a bat on her armor. She did a last minute check of her gear, talking to Tess as she worked.

"Got anything juicy for me Tess?"

'In addition to the main power source there appears to be numerous charging stations Ma'am. Likely for drones, or small mechs.'

"Fun, I would hate to go a day without a firefight."

She could feel the steady anticipation of combat, he natural hand twitched lightly forming a slight steady beat. She drew her carnifex with her left, her right hand embedded in the orange glow of her omni.

The door she chose opened slowly, but quietly. If she was lucky then the could get the drop on the target, or maybe the Salarian hadn't finished creating the bluebox, hell she would be happy if he had yet to upload himself.

Suddenly a voice that she was very much not Salarian came across the loudspeakers in the room, **"We see you human, you should not have attempted to interfere with the cycle."**

Of course she had never been lucky.

The first shots pinged nearby, but she had already taken off. While she had the kinetic barrier generator, and she had her own barriers, it still was smarter to avoid being shot in the first place. She hurled herself from the open catwalk, down into a maze of halls made of shipping containers.

She glanced down the hall on her right, spotting several floating drones. The small integrated weapons on them flaring as they registered her, she pivoted back rolling behind the container on her left. Priming an overload for the drone that soon floated into view, the nice thing about drones, they were flimsy. As the overload struck the small mechanical it tumbled to the ground, a heap of useless scrap.

She caught another one unawares with her pistol, but was forced to retreat again when his friends arrived. Four drones were left if there were no more in reserve. Three, she corrected as she fried the circuits of yet another one. Ducking back behind another container, she noted the drones were refusing to chase her. Instead they appeared to be guarding the center of the room.

"Got you." She slipped a charge from her belt, sliding it along the floor until it detonated. Taking out the remaining drones, and a large section of the floor.

She ran towards the edge of the hole, if her hunch was right the Salarian should be down there. Instead she was greeted with the sight of a glowing, humming, fully powered, bluebox. But not only that but it looked like it was hooked up to a transmission beacon, she had to assume the A.I was trying to upload itself to something else, maybe even a ship.

"Oh shit."

A sound to her left caused her to turn, and she found herself being decked by the most cybered up Salarian she had ever seen.. She was knocked off her feet, slamming into a container behind her. She kept enough of her wits to dodge the next blow, rolling away from her opponent and to her feet.

"OH SHIT!"

She backed up, opening fire on her opponent. The rounds slammed into him, but if he noticed then his pain tolerance was off the charts. It charged, swinging clumsily at her, she ducked countering with a biotic charged punch from her right. And while she succeeded in knocking him back the deafening clang of metal on metal told her there wasn't much flesh for her to hit.

"There has to be some part of you that I can kill!" She hissed at the, thing, in front of her.

The same voice from earlier returned, **"It had served its purpose, as such we have ascended it to the next stage. Despite your own efforts to do the same to yourself, you shall perish human."**

'Ma'am, he is controlling the body directly. Engaging.'

There was no time to tell Tess to not engage, as the Salarian was in the process of picking up one of the shipping containers. She flared her body, multiplying the mass of the container several times over, unfortunately for her the Salarian still tossed the damn thing.

"**A pitiful attempt to disrupt us. The cycle calls for your destruction as well synthetic."**

Ignoring the voice she focused on the task of dodging, there was nothing she could do for Tess at this time. She of course did the sensible thing, and charged directly at the Salarian. Rolling under the container as it went overhead she grabbed a charge from her belt, slapping the magnetized section directly on to the Salarian's left shoulder. She activated the charge a second later as she slipped behind another container for protection. The dull rumble that shook the room told her it had gone off, but the fist the slammed into her midsection told her it had been less than adequate.

The taste of copper filled her mouth, and red filled her vision, as a followup blow slammed into her side, sending her reeling back against the crate she had used for cover. But now that she could see the Salarian, she could see that it had lost an arm to her attack. She yelled as her body flared enveloping the Salarian in a stasis field. As the Salarian was halted mid strike she grabbed the belt around her waist, tossing it, and the charges it contained at the Salarian's feet. She took off across the room, glancing to see the field dissipating.

"See you in hell you cybernetic bastard."

Despite knowing she was within the blast radius, she triggered them. The pressure wave alone knocked her off her feet, luckily these were shaped charged so they put most of their damage potential up, directly into her counterpart. Though that didn't stop her from getting a lovely piece of shrapnel into her right leg.

At first she didn't believe that it had worked until bits of Salarian began to thud about the room, she dragged herself to her feet, favoring her left as she stumbled over to the hole she had made at the start of this mess.

"Tess you alright."

Silence was all that greeted her, before she noticed a small message on her display.

'Shutting down to prevent catastrophic damage, good luck Shepard.'

She laughed, it hurt, but damn did it feel good. She limped slowly over to the hole, favoring her left leg heavily.

"Always has to be my fucking right."

She lowered herself slowly into the hole, glancing about the lair. Designs were scrawled about the place, random components were scattered throughout the room. Some she recognized, some she had no clue to their function and that worried her.

"Okay I've had enough of this place. Now how to blow you to hell."

"**You have merely delayed your fate human, this action was already deemed a failure."**

"You are really chatty for something that is about to be scrap."

"**You have attracted the attention of something far beyond yourself human, this victory will spell doom for you and your species."**

"Well aren't you petty."

She spotted the power source in the back, a core from a smaller Salarian ship, Salarian's tended to make their core's easily removable so they could be used as improvised generators, or explosives. She was going to use the latter option. Setting the device to go off from a command from her omni, she turned to the console in the middle of the room.

She frowned as she noted that what she thought was a transmitter was actually a receiver, that meant that whoever or whatever had been talking to her wasn't here. But why would it need a bluebox, unless it was a synthetic intelligence itself. She noticed that it seemed to have been trying to interface with the Citadel network itself, but it seemed that whatever it had been trying to do had failed.

"I don't know where you are, or what you are, but rest assured I'm going to get to the bottom of this."

Before a reply could be given she opened fire on the device before her, sparks flashed but soon the status lights on the device flickered and died.

"There better be some stairs down here."

She limped her way to a flight of stairs she soon discovered, and began to make her way out of the building. Though not before grabbed the mostly intact arm she had blown off earlier in the fight. She wasn't going to pass up studying something this advanced, plus it was always good to have blackmail on your bosses.

She wasn't ashamed to admit that she felt a great sense of satisfaction at the sight of the explosion blooming in the rear view of her stolen sky-car.

S&amp;S

Saren had to suppress the smirk that constantly kept appearing on his face, the entity had promised him that it could manipulate Harper through the implants he had received years ago. It had stressed that it couldn't force him to do anything, but it could subtly effect him, all Saren had to do was give him a push. A task that he had been all too willing to assist in.

He once again brought his face back to a neutral state, Benezia and he were not on the best of terms, best not to antagonize her. He followed the commando in front of him, her name started with an S he thought, honestly he didn't care about them as individuals, but rather for the skills they possessed.

He entered a small indoor garden, the Matriarch was meditating near a fountain in the center of the room. As he approached he noted idly that the fountain was a stylized rendition of Athame, the commando still in front of him made a small noise to announce herself.

"Mistress, Spectre Arterius is here."

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, everyone in this room knew she was aware of the fact, but it was protocol. If they were on better terms he was sure it would have been ignored, but she was still a little sore it seemed over that Arcturus incident.

As the biotic field around her dissipated she drew herself to her full height, her eyes held nothing but scorn for him.

"What brings you here Saren? I only entertained your request because you said it was of the utmost importance, and I would like to believe that even you would not waste my time on something trivial. Even if you were willing to deceive me."

His mandibles flared unconsciously, this again. "You know that I merely did as the Council ordered me Benezia, yet you don't appear to hold them in contempt as you do myself."

The distaste in her eyes only seemed to grow at that, "You not only used my connections to smuggle yourself on to Arcturus, you then lied about your intentions once we did arrive, but you also needlessly hurt an innocent."

Before Saren could retort she exploded at him, "She was fourteen! A Child! And you not only killed her own Sire in front of her, but you sentenced even her soul to death. The human doctors explained to me that her body rejects cloned tissues, it will only be a matter of time before the synthetics in her body will eat away her soul. And I hold you responsible!"

Souls, he had to restrain himself from scoffing. The Asari had convinced themselves that in replacing organic tissues with synthetic alternatives one lost a piece of their soul, there was in fact a large amount of Asari who if they could not get a cloned replacement refused to install an integrated prosthetic. He considered it superstition taken to the illogical extreme, but then again this was from the same race that gave wandering monks the right to execute people.

But instead of starting a needless fight he held up his talon's in a gesture meant to placate the Matriarch.

"I didn't come here to fight Benezia, I recently came in contact with a, being. This, entity, is unbelievably ancient, and powerful, enough that I believe it could threaten all of Citadel Space."

Her head tilted slightly to the left, he could see the gears turning in her head. A small sigh escaped her lips before she asked the question he knew was coming.

"Then why bring this to me Saren? Would your masters not want this information brought to them."

He nodded, "Of course, but this being has nothing but contempt for the galaxy as it is. I was hoping that perhaps given your abilities both with melding, and negotiation, that you could perhaps show it the light. Convince it that perhaps the we as a people are worth taking a chance on, the technology it possesses alone is worth the risk."

Of course he had little faith that she could pull it off, but if anyone could he believed it was Benezia. And if she couldn't accomplish this task, well she was an excellent offering.

Benezia slowly nodded, "If I can assist I will. But know that I won't leave myself at your mercy, my commando's will accompany me for protection. You will lead us to this being, but my followers and I will take our own ship. I do not mean to offend but you have proven yourself untrustworthy in the past, are these terms agreeable?"

Saren gave a small smile, "I'd have it no other way Benezia."

S&amp;S

She had waited a day to contact Valern, it gave her time to investigate the arm she had taken with her, and it looked less suspicious. Not that she expected anyone to link her to the explosion, but it was always better to be a little paranoid about such matters.

The screen before her flickered several times before Valern's image came into view. It looked like he was in his office in the tower, if the view behind him was any indication of his position.

"While it seems you accomplished your mission I was expecting a more subtle approach Spectre."

She smirked a little, tapping an icon to forward several reports to him. The Salarian's eyes scanned the documents while she talked. "I've had the explosion linked to the Scions of Rakhana, the warehouse and the surrounding district were owned by the a major player in the Primacy. Exactly the type of target they like to hit. I had several C-Sec reports to that effect leaked to the media, and the Scions themselves took responsibility for the attack three hours ago, if everyone is saying you did it I guess you may as well take credit."

"Good job then with the cover up, but this report is troubling."

Valern continued to read the documents before him, hands tapping on his display as he worked. He got to a page and stopped, a frown spreading across his face. "Succeeded in linking with unknown intelligence, I assume that you destroyed any evidence of this receiver?"

She nodded, "I checked the C-Sec database to see what their investigation turned up, nothing that could be linked to your people." She paused briefly, wondering whether she wanted to bring it up or not. Sighing she continued, "The, body, of the researcher. It was more advanced than nearly any other piece of cybernetic technology I have ever seen. I pride myself on being ahead of the curve, but this was beyond me. I just feel that perhaps there was something more to what was going on here? Then a simple STG agent gone rogue."

Valern stopped, his gave drilling holes into her. "You were given all the pertinent data needed to complete your task. You have my thanks for a job well done, but do not mistake that for encouragement to go beyond your boundaries."

"Of course sir, my apologies."

Valern nodded, seemingly mollified. "Then have a good day Spectre."

As the screen returned to her normal setup she sunk back in her chair, the arm was truly beyond anything that could be constructed with modern technology. It appeared that the organic tissues had been forcibly converted to a synthetic material by nannites she had found in the arm, they had been pumping through the body in the same manner that blood moves throughout an organic body.

She was currently experimenting on the nannites, if she could figure out how to replicate them in some manner, well the sky was the limit at that point. But every attempt thus far had been a failure, she sighed and buried her face in her hands.

'Are you all right Ma'am?'

A small smile crept across her face, "Yes Tess I'm alright, just a little tired of secrets at this moment." Tess had come out of the ordeal none the worse for wear, but the fact she hadn't been able to even slow down what they had fought against was troubling. Eva was one of the top programmers when it came to cyberwarfare, and while there were plenty of people better than her, the fact that Tess was essentially a non-factor in that fight was a troubling thought.

A yawn escaped her, even if she didn't want to her body demanded rest.

"I think I'm going to turn in for the night."

'Good night Ma'am.'

"Night Tess."

S&amp;S

Hannah glanced at her screen, a small blinking icon indicated that she had received a secured missive from Jack. She frowned clicking the small icon.

'Make contact with Operations Chief Gates, determine potential for induction into Cerberus.'

The frown already on her face deepened, Gates had been already taken off the candidate list twice now. The woman hated Batarians, you didn't live through Mindoir, and not hate Batarians. But she was a decidedly pro-council officer, and routinely volunteered for joint-strike missions with other races. Not exactly a prime candidate for an organization like Cerberus.

Hannah sighed as she stood up, it was her regular time to do rounds anyway. Gates normally remained near the armory while on duty, of course if she was off duty she could be anywhere. Hannah chatted with a few members of the crew as she passed by them, small idle chatter but it helped to gauge morale, something that was important to keep an eye on when you were in a ship the size of a city.

As she entered the armory she was greeted with racks of weapons in secure storage, in the back was storage for non-standard weapons and armor, though some like Hannah kept their weapons secured in their own rooms. Glancing around she spotted the shorter woman doing maintenance on her weapons, Hannah approached her calling out to her, "Chief, do you have a moment?"

Rachel Gates spun around, a few tools clattering to the ground behind her. A wince formed at the clatter behind her, her short black hair was sticking about haphazardly as she saluted Hannah, which Hannah returned with a smirk on her face.

"Of course Ma'am, always have time for the XO. Especially one that could probably kick my ass."

Hannah grinned at her, "No need to stand on ceremony Gates, we're both new here so I decided I should get to know you. Not that there is all that much call for marines on a dreadnought, I'm sure the Hero of Elysium will get bored of it all soon enough."

Gates gave a small nod, "Not exactly sure who I pissed off to get this assignment Ma'am, I had been scheduled to do a tour with a tour near the edge of B-Space. Somehow one of the brass got it in their heads that I was going out there looking for a fight, not like I was hiding that fact." She muttered that last bit more to herself than to Hannah.

Seemingly remembering who she was talking to again she panicked. "Not that the Kilimanjaro isn't an impressive ship Ma'am, she's incredible. But, and I'm not griping mind you, this is a posting for someone interested in getting a notch in their belt while staying safe. Safe is not what I signed up for."

Hannah nodded, "I understand, though there is little I can personally do about it. You got assigned here by someone pretty far up the chain, who knows maybe they are just giving you a rest before they throw you into the fire again."

Gates groaned, "Leave is one thing, commanding a marine detachment is another. This isn't a rest, it's an avalanche of paperwork." The younger woman sighed, "I joined to make sure that our colonies were safe, not float around Alliance space in a damned fortress."

Gates shifted position, causing light to hit the small crucifix she was wearing on her neck. It was unusual for officers to openly wear religious iconography, not that there was anything against it in the regs, it was simply viewed as more accessible to not proclaim one's affiliation.

It reminded her of John though, the man wore his beliefs, all of them, on his sleeve. Evalyn had taken after him in that regard, though after his death she had lost her faith, in a lot of things she supposed. Hannah frowned as she felt tears prick her eyes, it had been eleven years ago and it still felt like she was walking around with a part of herself missing.

Gates frowned as she noticed her distress, "Ma'am, are you all right?"

Hannah gave a small nod, trying to form a reassuring smile on her face. "Yes Chief, your crucifix just made me remember my family I suppose."

"I am sorry Ma'am, I, I want you to know that I was inspired by your daughter. I only met her once but I couldn't help but think that she was an exceptional person, it, it's a shame what happened to her."

Hannah nodded, "Thank you Chief, but I've taken up enough of your time."

She turned and began to walk away, she could hear Gates mumbling to herself. She paused, glancing over her shoulder, "Gates, you didn't step over the line. And yes Eva was an exceptional woman, I've had the benefit of meeting several such people in my lifetime." She let a small smile play across her face, "As you were Chief."

S&amp;S

AN: Hannah is a big fan of old comic book characters, that is why Eva likes Batman. Plus I can't see cultural icons like that disappearing entirely, I mean we still go to see plays that were produced hundreds of years ago.

I'd appreciate it if you guys let me know what you would prefer in regards to whether I should finish this story up, or jump ahead to ME 1. Aside from that leave a review if you want to let me know what you thought, or to criticize something, always open to either.

And thanks to all those who hit the buttons below.


	10. Took you long enough

AN: First off sorry for the delay, was a little under the weather. On the bright side this is my longest chapter to date.

I got one vote for me to continue the story as is, another for me to jump ahead, and a third abstained, so current plan is to wrap this one up like originally planned and then to move on to ME 1.

Song: War Horse by Jason Creer

Liara and Shepard Theme: Roslin and Adama by Bear McCreary

S&amp;S

2181 CE

Liara was rather confident at this point that if the Goddess did indeed exist, she took an inordinate amount of pleasure in mocking her, she finally received her first solo dig and what does she get? An Prothean pyramid that has resisted all modern methods to open it. The structure had been discovered when the Humans first began to scout the planet Chasca for colonization, and the investors backing the colony had asked the Serrice University for assistance, wanting to find leverage any windfalls they could this early in development.

She had thought it was a reward when the University sent her, but now she realized it was just another prank on the pureblood. She sighed, sitting down on the grass to look up at the sky, Chasca at least had a beautiful view. The ring that surrounded the planet was artificial, designed to reflect light into the upper atmosphere in numerous breathtaking designs, at the very least she could write about the significance of patterns they reflected she supposed.

She would admit that at she did enjoy the solitude of this dig compared to her previous team efforts. Aside for herself there were maybe two other survey teams of humans on the planet, which suited her just fine, she wasn't that great at social interactions at the best of times.. Plus she had to admit there was something exciting being on an untamed world, knowing that she may be the first being since the Protheans to walk these hills thrilled her.

But she had wasted enough time, she needed to get back to work. Standing up she made her way back over to the tent that held all of her equipment, with a groan she lowered herself into her desk chair. She grabbed a datapad that held all the notes she had taken at the site, satisfied that everything was in order she activated the recorder on her omni and began to record her elaborated thoughts on the structure thus far.

"The structure is akin to those we have found at other Prothean sites, the visible portion of the structure is pyramidal, though attempts to scan the portions of the structure still buried have been inconclusive. Based on the more excavated sites of a similar nature we can assume that somewhere an entrance to the lower structure is present, though it too may be buried due to changes in the topography since the construction of this structure. At the apex of the structure there appears to be a vault of some type, but it has no visible mechanism to trigger its activation. The entirety of the structure is covered in glyphs and symbols that are identical to those from other sites, perhaps these buildings were pre-fabricated elsewhere and transported here, rather than being built on site."

She sighed, none of this was new information, and she really needed a win after how her thesis had been received. She tilted back in her chair, it still hurt how readily they had just ignored all of her work. Catching a glimpse of the planet's ring through the tents opening she began to speak on it.

"The planets ring is artificial, I'm waiting on confirmation but I believe the ring may predate the Prothean's. Perhaps it was their discovery of the ring that led them to settle here." An involuntary groan escaped her lips. "Yes more rampant conjecture is just what my career needs, like they need more ammunition against you, and why am I saying this out loud!. Goddess, note to self edit recording." She buried her face in her hands, "How can I embarrass myself this badly when there isn't even anyone around."

The sound of a ship breaking atmo brought her attention out of her pity party, making her way out of the tent she frowned when she spotted the ship, the vessel looked distinctly Asari but that didn't make any sense. The university wasn't due to send a supply ship for another three weeks, and this world didn't have enough people on it to justify the expense of getting out here if it was pirates, and there was no colonists here yet to attract slavers.

She rushed to the other side of her camp, practically diving into the tent she used as her living space, hurriedly shuffling through her belongings until she found what she was looking for. Pulling out the pistol she kept on her for emergencies she checked the power cell, then the ammunition block, satisfied with both she headed out of her camp, moving towards high ground.

She crested a hill near the pyramid, giving her a view of the whole valley before her. The Asari ship had settled down not too far from her location, but the sole figure exiting the ship still had a ways to walk before they reached her. She wished she had a viewfinder of some sort, so instead she decided that getting out of sight was a better plan than standing out here in the open. But just in case her luck held out she patted herself down to make sure she had the beacon Shepard had given her, the Spectre had promised to come running, and Liara had an ominous feeling that she would need the human to keep her word.

S&amp;S

"Guess who managed to become the Systems Alliance most disliked Spectre this year?"

Shepard turned in her chair to glance at the Nihlus seated on her couch, he waved a datapad in his hands almost mockingly at her. She sighed, reaching out her hand for the datapad that Nihlus handed over with a grin.

She glanced across the data in front of her, the pad listed all the negative mentions that Spectres received from that various news agencies in the galaxy.

"Really, I managed to beat Saren. I mean I expect the negative press from Westerlund, and ANN is just the Alliance's bullhorn, but EBC I expected more from you, why do you hurt one who loves you so much."

Nihlus chuckled from his seat, "According to EBC the constant interference of Spectre Varan in Alliance space is an insinuation that humanity is unable to handle its own affairs." He waved a talon at her, "I told you taking out those pirates would just piss of the Alliance."

She sighed, "You know that if they knew I was human none of this would matter."

"Now that is a lie and you know it, if they knew who you were they'd be claiming that you had been indoctrinated by the Council into believing that the Alliance is incapable of protecting their own people. And that would just be according to the respectable outlets, I'm sure Westerlund would be claiming that you were screwing both the Consort and the Councilor of their current choosing."

Shepard took a swig of the beer in front of her, "Definitely Sparatus, then they could run an expose on how I was betraying my parents legacy."

"Oh that is good, I can see it now plastered on every screen in Zakera ward."

She smirked as she finished off her beer, she stood up moving through the living area to her fridge. She opened up the door, glancing over it to look at Nihlus, she held up a dextro beer, "Want another?"

"I suppose I could have another, after all I'm pretty sure that those are the one's I brought here last time."

As she settled herself back into her chair she noticed Nihlus was glancing pointedly at the entrance to her workshop. "What Nihlus?"

"Oh, nothing. Just wondering if you ever plan on letting me know what your doing in your lair."

"If I did, then I would have to kill you."

"Right like you coul-"

Before he could finish his boast a shrill alarm trilled from her console.

"Spirits what is that Shepard."

But she was already in action, leaping up she charged into the now opening doorway of her workshop. The arm and accompanying nannites were safely stored away so she had no worries there, and as she pulled on her combat suit she decided that decorum wasn't high on her list if Liara was in trouble.

"Tess prep _Shanxi_,and find out where the hell Liara is!"

Nihlus poked his head inside the doorframe, "Do you need my help in saving your not-girlfriend? Also Tess is still creepy."

"Unless your ship can keep up with mine then no, because I need to keep the second seat open for Liara. And she is not creepy, and she wants you to know that you hurt her feelings."

As she finished pulling on the last of her armor she hurried over to her weapon locker, grabbing her kit she turned pushing past the worried Turian. The workshop door slid shut behind her, not that she didn't trust Nihlus, but friendship could only be taken so far when Spectres were involved.

"She didn't actually say I hurt her feelings did she? Because that really isn't helping with the creepy factor."

She ignored the Turian as she pulled on her helmet while moving towards the entryway that led to her dock, she was too busy to deal with Nihlus' insecurities concerning advanced intelligences. As she exited the room she yelled over her shoulder to the Turian still standing in her living room, "Show yourself out Nihlus, if something comes up cover for me will you."

"Sure, I'll just tell them that you are off having a heated affair with one of the elites of Asari society."

"That's not funny!"

S&amp;S

Liara was scared, panicked, and more than a little confused. She had recognized the individual that had approached her camp as one of her Mother's commandos who responded to T'Nal, but even before Liara revealed herself she was acting peculiar, everything about her movements seemed a little off, almost like each motion was a chore.

Liara's unease only increased once she revealed herself, all T'Nal would say was that Benezia required her presence, when Liara pushed she was either unable or unwilling to give a more detailed explanation. And so Liara had informed the commando that she would not be coming with her, the commando did not take this statement well. T'Nal had lunged at her, attempting to fasten a set of biotic dampening cuffs that had been on her belt on to the younger T'Soni, but her slowed movements enabled Liara to dodge, and her barriers were just as well maintained. And so Liara had sent the Asari flying down into the valley below with a well placed throw, and deciding there was no time to lose she quickly triggered the beacon that Shepard had given her. And while T'Nal had been taken out of the equation for the time being, Liara still didn't know her fate having not had any time to ascertain what had happened to her afterwards, the ship the commando had arrived in had more than made up for it with the reinforcements it ushered forth.

They were mostly Turian, a few Asari, and a single Krogan who towered over the rest of them, but Liara was thankful that they were not the brightest examples of their species. She had managed to keep out of sight of their foot patrols thus far, but Chasca had only a small amount of land that was actually safe for the majority of modern sentient species to live in, and with the ship now performing passes through the valley she was limited in what she could do. So she had followed a hunch she had on her first day here, and she had finally managed to track down the entrance to what she believed to be the rest of the Prothean structure.

As she began to move inside the labyrinthine structure she hoped Shepard was hurrying. Though she wasn't sure what was more foolish, holding out hope for the Spectre to save her in time, or assuming the human woman was going to show up at all.

S&amp;S

It took the better part of a day to reach the system Liara was in, her location was a small garden world in the early stages of colonization by the Alliance. Luckily the planet had only a small area near the equator that was in the tolerance zone for human colonization, as such it narrowed down the search radius significantly.

'Ma'am the beacon appears to be moving off the planet. I am also detecting a transport vessel exiting the atmosphere.'

"Shit, that complicates matters. Alright Tess I need you to try to take over that ship when we are in range, or at the very least get control of their navigation. I hate space walks" The last she muttered more for herself than for Tess, she was of course trained, all Alliance troops were. But it didn't mean she had to like relying on a pressure suit to keep her alive.

_Shanxi_ raced towards her target, a sleek but not heavily armed Asari transport. The vessel was an older model, but when you were talking about a race that lived for a millennium longevity was a trait to be expected. It also meant that she couldn't risk using her weapons on a ship as lightly armored as that, at least not without putting Liara's life in danger.

The target ship's upper turret flared to life, but it was still an outdated model available on the civilian market, something that she knew her shields could essentially ignore.

"How we doing Tess? If they jump this becomes a race as to who gets to the relay first."

'If we were closer I would be having an easier time at this.'

She smirked underneath her helmet, and piled on the speed. Once upon a time _Shanxi _had been the personal ship of a high up Alliance general, to be used in case he had to get off world in a hurry, and while the ship had never been used in her intended role she was more than capable of outracing the Asari ship. She brought her ship in closer to her targets starboard side, where logic dictated an airlock would be. It also brought her out of the line of fire of the turret, and while it was simply a minor annoyance, it was better to not have to worry about it.

'I have locked them on their current course, if you match speed you should be able to safely cross over to the hostile ship Ma'am.'

Shepard did a quick check of her suits seals, she didn't plan on asphyxiating during her daring rescue attempt. She tapped a command into the ships console, causing the air to be cycled from the cockpit, once given the all clear she triggered the canopy to retract. Standing up in her seat she glanced across at the hatch on the hostile ship that she needed to reach, a sea of nothingness separating her from her goal.

"Well, here goes nothing."

And with that she hurled herself into the void, the micro-rockets in her suit fired occasionally to keep her on target. But like some of the most stressful things in life, this event didn't live up to the horror story she had thought up in her head.

Firmly taking hold of an handhold next to the airlock she ripped open a panel next to the hatch, working quickly to trigger the manual depressurization cycle and gain access to the ship. Shortly afterwards the door opened, and she slipped inside the airless box. As she checked her gear she smiled, she knew that they would be ready for her once the airlock finished cycling, and she was looking forward to it.

S&amp;S

Liara groaned as consciousness returned to her, she had managed to evade her pursuers for some time in the Prothean structure, but eventually their sheer numbers had eliminated her ability to hide from them. She had tried to fight back, though her resistance was short lived once the Krogan arrived. It was he who had knocked her out when he struck her in the head with his rifle, a malicious grin on his face as he did so.

That grin was gone now, replaced by a look of uncertainty, though Liara had no idea what had changed since she had last been conscious. Glancing around she found herself in the cargo bay of what looked to be one of her Mother's light transports. Benezia possessed a small fleet, gathered over the course of her long lifespan, and while Liara hadn't been on many of them this ship had been one of Benezia's favored vessels.

Trying to draw as little attention as possible she glanced around the room, along with the Krogan there were five other armed guards, three Turians, and two Asari. The sound of gunfire drew both her attention, and that of her captors to the entrance of the hold. Their attention quickly rewarded by the sight of a body flung through the open doorway, it slid across the ground until crunched sickeningly into a cargo container somewhere behind Liara.

The Krogan grunted, waving forward the guards. "That door is the only way in here, you see anybody move shoot'em."

They moved up, more anxious to avoid the Krogan's wrath then fearful of the mystery attacker. They spread out putting crates between themselves and the door. But what neither Liara, or they noticed, were the two small turrets deploying from the corpse that had just arrived in the room.

The first hint they had was when a missile struck one of the Asari, it shattered her barrier leaving her open for the hail of projectiles that punctured her body. The rest of the hostiles, including the Krogan turned to find out where the attack had come from. Only for one Turian to suddenly find himself engulfed in flame as an armored figure charged into the room, omni-tool blazing angrily on the figure's wrist.

The rifle in her potential savior's left hand quickly took out the second Asari with a precise shot to the head, taking advantage of the fact that her barriers had been taken down by the combined efforts of the turrets. A pulse of blue from the figure and one of the Turians found himself hurled across the room, landing heavily as he collided into a wall near the turrets, one of which proceeded to promptly roast him alive with a flamethrower before he recovered.

The remaining two Turians had charged her rescuer, apparently hoping that their shotguns would give them the advantage in close combat. They soon realized how mistaken they were when one of their guns detonated from a heatsink overload, taking both gun and owner out of the fight. The last remaining guard, aside from the Krogan of course, tossed his weapon to the ground.

"I surrender, just don't kill me!"

There was no chance for a response, as his body pitched violently forward, a smoking crater in the center of his stomach. Two more shots rang out, and the small turrets that had done so much work, became so much scrap.

The Krogan smirked at her as he approached her, the cannon of a shotgun in his hands still red from its discharges. "Been a while since I had a good fight, and I didn't want any distractions." With that being said he charged at her rescuer, an ugly battle cry issuing from his throat.

Discharges echoed throughout the room as the Krogan closed the distance to his target, but his blasts were absorbed by a barrier that was projected from his opponents right arm, the rifle in their left arm firing quick but accurate bursts at the charging Krogan.

The Krogan slammed his shoulder into the barrier, causing his opponent to give ground from the assault, but seconds later the barrier was engulfed in flames, causing the Krogan to instinctively recoil. The smaller fighter used this chance to strike out again with the barrier which shifted mid thrust into a blade, one that found itself buried deep in the Krogan's neck. His only response though was a smirk, followed by a viscous headbutt to his opponents helmet.

They reeled back, the flash constructed blade on their arm fizzling out. The Krogan tossed aside his gun, pulling out a blade that was affixed to the front of his armor. "The old fashioned way then, been a while since I got the chance to gut a pyjak." He let loose another roar as he once again charged.

Before he could get a swing in though his opponent flung an outstretched hand forward, the pull field that hit him was weak, but it was enough to unbalance the thug. He fell forward face crunching against the deck, his opponent lunged on top of him before he had a chance to react.

They had thrown aside their rifle when Liara was distracted, and now a pistol filled their left hand. What followed was an exercise in brutality, the pistol's discharges accompanied the sound of cutting flesh as the remade blade joined in.

The Krogan during this time struggled to stand, but eventually he stilled. Liara could only stare at the carnage in front of her, transfixed by the utter slaughter she had witnessed. She knew that Shepard was dangerous, but sometimes seeing is believing.

Her rescuer sat on her knees for a few moments, body heaving from the exertion of taking down the Krogan. But soon she rose, placing her pistol on her hip, then turning to retrieve her rifle.

She walked forward towards Liara, who flinched away from the hand she extended to the Asari. Shepard's hand hovered, before it shifted down to the cuffs binding Liara. The cuffs beeped as their internal security was hacked, clattering off of her wrists.

Before Liara could respond Shepard took off, taking a direct route towards one of the dead Asari. Then she began to strip the armor off of the deceased sentient.

"Goddess, what are you doing?"

Shepard continued at her task, not bothering to glance in her direction when she responded. "My ship can't dock with this one, I'll need to cobble together a suit for you, I didn't come here just to have you die in the void." She plucked the helmet off of the Asari's head, but upon noticing the bullet hole through the forehead she quickly tossed it over her shoulder.

"Liara can you check the helmet on the other Asari, otherwise you will have to make do with a human helmet, it will be uncomfortable but you won't need to wear it for long."

Liara could only numbly nod, stumbling over to the other corpse. Her shaking hands managed to pry the helmet off, which she rolled over to Shepard. The human grabbed it, turning it in her hands to examine every angle. "This will do." She waved Liara over, "Come on lets get you suited up and off this ship."

The next few moments were akin to a hazy dream, Shepard pulling the suit over her body with military precision, being led through the corpse strewn hallways, and lastly that terrifying leap through nothingness to reach the escape ship.

It was only when the ships cabin had pressurized that Shepard's posture relaxed, her hands raised up yanking off the helmet on her head. She glanced back at Liara in the passenger seat, "I'm sorry you had to see that, once I've got you to someplace safe then I'll get out of your way."

Her hands reached for the controls, both natural and unnatural limbs shaking before they made contact. Liara felt her a wrenching sensation in her chest, this woman had just risked her life to save hers, and she seemed to be more terrified of what Liara thought of her, than she had during the entire battle to save her life.

She reached a hand out, placing it on Shepard's shoulder. The human woman jerked in her seat before she seemed to remember where she was. "Shepard, I, I just wanted to say thank you. If you hadn't come, I don't want to know what would have happened to me."

Shepard just nodded to her, an almost invisible smile playing on her lips.

S&amp;S

"The survivor reported that it was a single operative. The description he gave matches that of a Spectre known as Mirix Varan, an alias used by a human female known as Evalyn Shepard."

"**This human has interfered with our works before, however she is not your concern. The loss of your daughter is a setback, but there are other Prothean experts that can be acquired. We must find out what the Prothean's did to the Citadel before we are forced to take alternative measures. You may leave Matriarch."**

Benezia bowed towards the projection, "As you say." She turned, and sauntered out of the room. Once she had left the room the projection turned towards Saren, who was seated in an almost throne like chair.

"**This human will become a problem. We have seen it before, in other cycles where a Catalyst has appeared early. It will be unfortunate to lose such a potential resource, but sacrifices must be made in order to continue the cycle."**

Saren frowned, he had never heard that term before, and it worried him that it was being applied to a human, much less that human in particular. But more importantly he needed to make sure that Sovereign, as Benezia had taken to calling it, was not doubting his usefulness. For now that was all that was protecting him from what had happened to Benezia, to know that such a strong willed individual could be turned into a puppet, was a terrifying sight to behold.

"I'll take care of it, I can convince the council to assign her a high risk mission, the type of mission that if you don't return it isn't questioned." He paused, wary of how to finish his sentence. "It will take some time to arrange, months, possibly a year to make sure that everything will be in place."

"**We have existed for eon's before your species even drew breath, our patience is infinite, but remember our tolerance for failure is not. Remember Saren, your mistakes will be reflected upon your species."**

His talon's bit into his plates at Soverign's statement, how could he ever forget the one thought that consumed his every waking moment. He could only hope that one day his people would be able to see that his choice, was indeed the correct one.

S&amp;S

Liara awoke when the ship touched down, she could hear Shepard quietly talking to someone, but she couldn't here the other member of the conversation.

"Where are we?"

Shepard glanced back at her, the blonde mane shifting around her face. "The Citadel, this dock leads to my apartment. You're welcome to stay for as long as you would like, once your settled I'll get out of your crest."

Liara frowned, "I'm not sure I understand that last bit."

Shepard's laugh was unexpected, but welcome if she was being honest. "I forget how baffling human idioms must be to other species. Especially when I'm not speaking English so I'm certain it makes even less sense than normal, it's an expression that means get out of your way, or not bother you."

Shepard flicked a switch on the console, causing the canopy to retract. She stood up, standing on the nose of the ship before turning around to offer Liara a hand. Liara of course blushed like some vapid Maiden having her first crush. While her reasons for not seeing Shepard were sound, it didn't change the fact she enjoyed the human's company, plus she was very attractive. She reached out and took hold of the hand offered to her, noting that it was the arm she knew to be synthetic.

She had honestly expected to be more off put by the cybernetics, but she wasn't, they were seemingly as much a part of Shepard as her natural limbs were. While most Asari wouldn't even look at a cybernetic limb, let alone touch one, however Liara felt no such revulsion. Perhaps it was because she emphasized with a fellow ostracized individual, she too knew what it was like to be judged based on something that was outside of your own control.

"Liara, you okay?"

Liara blinked, blushing further when she realized that she had been daydreaming while holding Shepard's hand.

"Y-yes I'm fine, just tired from all the excitement is all." She offered Shepard a small tired smile, which earned her a mirrored reaction from the human.

"Come on then, you can have the bed. Hopefully Nihlus' bony ass hasn't wrecked the cushions of my couch yet."

"Shepard we can share the bed, I recall us doing so before." Liara did her best to ignore the blush she could feel spreading across her face.

Shepard glanced back at her, her voice was softer than it normally was, like she was wary of voice her thoughts. "Lets just keep this is uncomplicated as possible, so please take the bed, it isn't a hardship on my part. I promise."

Liara only nodded, she didn't want to admit it but despite sleeping most of the journey back she was still exhausted. "The bed would be lovely."

S&amp;S

Hannah frowned as she made her way to her terminal, normally she would ignore it and go back to sleep, but the tone being issued meant that Miranda considered this an emergency. Her knee caught the edge of a chair causing her to stumble, cursing the treacherous piece of furniture she made her way to the blinking monitor nursing her smarting kneecap.

Tapping the icon Miranda's face quickly snapped into focus, the young woman was breathing heavily, and Hannah could see her hands shaking on the desk. "Miri what's wrong?"

Realizing she had gotten though Miranda both looked relived and more agitated, "Mom you need to get off that ship now! Leng and Rasa botched the recruitment with Gates, and of them tipped her off about your connections to Cerberus. I-I can't get anything out there to pick you up, you'll need to steal a ship, disable the transponder, protocol dictat-"

"I'll be fine Miri, I'll contact you as soon as I'm safely away."

"I don't know if Gates has gotten word yet to any authorities, I'll try to disrupt any communications, but please hurry."

Hannah was already moving, her emergency bag was already packed. She quickly pulled off her sleepwear, and slipped into the same gear she had worn to the Citadel. Grabbing the bag she turned to the console, seeing that Miri was still on the line she smiled reassuringly at her.

"I'll be fine Miri, just you watch. Love you."

Miranda nodded vacantly a few times, before a soft "I love you too" came from her lips.

Hannah entered a quick command into the console, causing it to short itself out, taking any evidence with it.

She turned and opened her door, resulting in both herself, and the three marines on the other side of the door to stare at each other in surprise. She got over it faster.

The marine on her left she took out at the knees with a well placed kick, she ducked under a swing from another. Grabbing the now unbalanced soldier and slamming his unhelmeted head into the bulkhead, his body slumping to the ground a streak of red staining the wall. The remaining soldier now recovering from his shock went to level his weapon at her, but she rolled towards him ripping his gun out of his hands before smashing the butt of the gun into his head.

She looked down at the first marine she had knocked to the floor, activating the current generator in her gauntlet. "I am sorry about this so you know." She placed her hand on his neck causing an electric current to run through his body, his body convulsed for a few moment before she removed her hand.

"No time to lose then."

She walked swiftly through the halls of the ship, but she didn't run, that would only draw more attention. She had to assume that Kahoku hadn't informed anyone aside for those who needed to know, or at least that is what she would have done.

Entering one of the port docking bays she saw what she had come for, a small high priority courier ship, most often used for eyes only bulletins, but also by the officers when they had somewhere to go and didn't want anyone to know.

She was in a hurry so there was no way to do this with finesse, she activated a program that Eva had given her at Christmas a few years ago, a smile ghosted across her face as the ships canopy opened up. Slipping inside she quickly went through the boot sequence, before quickly guiding the ship out of the hanger. The moment she cleared the hanger she fed all available power to the engine. She needed to hit the relay before the CAP could be tasked to intercept her.

The comm unit began to buzz angrily, but she had no urge to have a verbal debate with a pissed off Admiral, so she shut off the unit altogether.

Luck was on her side this time, as she manged to hit the relay before they could even enter weapons range. However a weight settled on her chest as she realized where she had to go, she knew this wouldn't go well, but she set a course towards the Citadel anyway.

S&amp;S

Liara woke up to find herself alone in the room, though there was a doorway leading to another room that she did not recall from when she had first entered the apartment. She padded across the room, glancing inside to see Shepard working on something contained in a tube.

Her muttered thoughts carried through the room, "I can program them, but then they change to a different pattern. I swear it is like something takes over once it realizes they are active, not going to put something that I can't control inside of me."

"You'd put those things inside of you!" Liara's sudden outburst caused Shepard to curse and tumble from her chair, Liara could only grin lightly at the human woman glaring at her from the floor.

"In a heartbeat if I could get them to work, they are more advanced than anything I have ever come across. And if used correctly they could help with my, um, condition."

Liara sat down at the edge of a nearby desk, tilting her head at the human's statement. "How so? From what you told me it can't be reversed."

"And that still wouldn't change, but with these." She hefted the vile for emphasis, "These can if programmed properly create synthetic tissue that is nearly identical to what occurs naturally. I'd still be replacing natural with synthetic, but it, it would just be better, lets just leave it at that."

She set the tube back down, "Of course all of this is just talk, not like I can get the damn things to work." She raised her arms over the head, stretching them while making a sound that Liara rather enjoyed. "So, not to be rude but we haven't actually talked about why you were kidnapped."

Liara bit her lip as she considered how to respond to the question, she sighed deciding that Shepard deserved to know about her Mother's involvement. "I was first approached by one of my Mother's commandos, she was the one who told me that Mother requested my presence. I asked why Benezia needed to see me, she didn't give me a reason, just repeated that I was required, eventually she just lunged at me." Her breath involuntarily hitched, "That was when I tried to hide underground, but there were so many of them, I tried to fight but, well I'm no soldier."

She starred down at her shaking hands, trying to banish the memory of that brutish Krogan smirking at her. She jumped slightly when Shepard took hold of them, she glanced up to see a small smile on the Human's face.

"It's all right Liara, you did the hardest thing that anyone can do in a situation like that, you didn't give in to panic. You know the first time I entered combat I just froze up, stood there like the biggest idiot in the universe just starring across this field at this Batarian tank that is coming right at us." Shepard drifted off, seemingly lost in the memory, Liara gave her hand a small squeeze to bring her back to reality.

"So what happened to the biggest idiot?"

A small laugh escaped from the human, "Well she got knocked off her ass when the Batarian blew up the Mako behind her. I got the last laugh when I hacked their guidance and drove them off of a cliff, why they needed a V.I to drive a tank is beyond me."

Liara giggled a little, it was of course a horrible image but she would take anything to laugh about right now.

"So what is your plan Miss T'Soni? Not that I'm going to kick you out, but something is obviously going on with Benezia."

She nodded absently, "I have some resources to my name, when Mother and I parted she gave me a portion of the estate to live on, and I'm not so prideful as to not accept it." She raised her head, looking Evalyn right in the eyes. "I'm going to find out what is going on with my Mother, but I, I think I'll need some help to do that." She idly ran her one of her fingers over the top of the Spectre's hands.

Shepard glanced down at the traitorous digit, "You know you have my help, but I thought you said that, this, was something you wanted to avoid." Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper, and it tore at Liara's heart a little.

She leaned her head down, bringing their foreheads together. "I was scared, and while my logic was correct, the reasoning behind it was wrong. And, and I have truly missed you, more than I dared to imagine I would, that night we had, it was one of the few truly happy moments of my life."

It was in that moment she decided that even if Shepard said no she wasn't going to allow herself to regret this, she surged forward capturing the human's lips in hers. She felt herself grinning into the human woman's lips at the moan that emerged from Evalyn. Though that was soon replaced by a squeak as Shepard picked her up and brought her into the other room.

Liara could see the playful glint in Shepard's eyes, "Do not toss me Shepard!" That only brought a grin to the human's face. "I am the heir of House T'Soni, and I demand that you do not toss me!"

The scion of house T'Soni couldn't stop herself from screaming as she was tossed into Shepard's bed.

S&amp;S

Shepard agreed to accompany Liara in the guise of her bodyguard when she went to access some funds, so Shepard was following her wearing one of her prototype armors to hide both her identities. It had been a long and rather tedious day, but she had managed to begin the process of accessing many of the resources at her disposal.

The day was interrupted sometime in the afternoon, Liara was getting fitted for a set of armor, figuring that it would come in handy in the long run, when Shepard had received a call. She hadn't said who the call came from but it had obviously put her on edge, so Liara had suggested they call it a day.

She honestly was looking forward to getting back to Shepard's apartment, to simply be able to see her face again would be welcome.

As they approached the door though Shepard had suddenly drew her weapon, rushing ahead she had barreled into the room. Liara coming inside closely behind her found herself starring at what looked to be an older version of Shepard.

The human woman glanced at Liara, offering a small nod of greeting. "Hello Liara, I'm Hannah Shepard, Eva's mother."

Shepard never took her gun off her mother, "You forgot the part about being a terrorist Mom."

Hannah glanced up at her daughter, "Yes, I suppose I did. I'm not going to ask how you found out, I came here because you deserve to hear the truth, not because I thought you already knew. So I know you have questions, and I will do my best to answer them. Just, keep an open mind when I do answer them."

S&amp;S

AN: EBC stands for Earth Broadcasting Corporation, pretty much just a modern variant of the BBC or CBC. Kind of struck me as odd that you had ANN which from the name alone would imply it is the official mouthpiece, and Westerlund which is a modern day sensationalist agency.

Thanks to those who have hit the buttons below thus far, special thanks to The Silver Ebon Hawk, Gunman666, and the guest reviewer for their votes. And to my other guest reviewer no Shepard is not going to fall for Nihlus, my plan was from the beginning more of a heterosexual life partner vibe.


	11. Past laid bare

AN: Sorry for the delay everyone, but hopefully it was worth the wait.

I spent a lot of time rewriting the battle scene in here, we are still low scale so I'm trying to get in some practice. I fully admit that I use Logical Premises fight scenes as a kind of style guide, I like how his fight scenes flow.

Thanks to all those who have left feedback, followed, or hit that favorite button.

Song: Hannah and Evalyn Shepard: I'm not calling you a Liar; by Florence and the Machine (DA II version)

Terra Nova: MOBILE ARMOR by Hiroyuki Sawano

S&amp;S

2181 CE

Shepard glanced over at Liara, she didn't want to ask her to leave, but she also didn't want to force her to watch what was to come. Liara caught her gaze, giving a small nod, "I'll just work from your workshop if that is alright with you?"

"Of course, Tess will open the door for you."

Neither Hannah, nor Evalyn spoke as the Asari made her way out of the room, the younger of the two only sitting down once the hidden doorway closed itself back over. Shepard set her left hand, plus the gun it held on the table, still aimed in her Mother's direction.

Hannah sighed in her seat, "That really isn't necessary Eva, I would never do anything that would put you in harms way."

Evalyn merely flexed her right arm, watching the play of the synthetic fibers as they mimicked their flesh counterparts. "You know, I have some pretty compelling evidence to the contrary, mother." Hannah shifted uncomfortably at the coldness of her tone, "Oh, I'm sorry. Did me bringing up the part where you not only knew about Akuze, but failed at keeping me out of "harms way" mess up your heartfelt plea?"

"I had nothing to do with that, I tried to get you ou-"

"AND WHAT ABOUT MY MEN!" Hannah shifted back reflexively, Eva's hand burned from pain as the rage caused her to clamp down on the gun, "What about them? Why weren't they worth "getting out?" What made my life so much more important tha-"

"Because you're my daughter!" Hannah's voice cut off her daughter's tirade, "Before anything else I am still your mother, and I would do anything I could to protect my family!"

A bitter laugh escaped Evalyn's throat, "Ya, you are quite the protector. Dead husband, maimed daughter, a terrorist who kills men and women whose only fault was trying to do their job and protect people!."

"You can't put that on me, it wasn't my choice to kill those men, and it sure as hell wasn't my choice to let you get hurt. As for your Father, why don't you ask your employers why they had him killed."

She reacted faster than either of them had expected, throwing the table that separated them across the room, the gun now hovering just inches away from the face of the woman who bore and raised her. "You really think that your little mind games are going to work? Just tell me that I'm the one working for the villains and everything will be alright?"

Hannah held her gaze, their mirrored eyes blazing at each other. "No, but you deserve the truth. We both kept secrets from you Eva, your Father's secrets got him killed, mine will probably make me lose you. But I am willing to answer your questions, and I will do my best to answer any you may have about your Father."

Evalyn manged to lower her arm, debating whether this was just another trick of not. She stood there awkwardly for a few moments before nodding, at that she retreated back over to the couch which she slumped into.

"Alright, fine, I'll give you a chance to explain. Just, just, start at the beginning."

Hannah nodded a few times, absently rubbing her wedding band. "I guess we should start off with my name, Eva Core was my original name, and I fought for the Alliance under General Williams as a mercenary during the First Contact War."

S&amp;S

Admiral Steven Hacket glanced up at the those assembled at the table, "V.I state the attendance and start taking minutes."

"Yes sir, Admiral Lindholm: First Fleet; in attendance, Admiral Drescher: Second Fleet; in attendance, Admiral Singh: Third Fleet; absent, Admiral Carson: Fourth Fleet, in attendance, Admiral Hacket: Fifth Fleet; in attendance. Would you like me to go over the minutes of the last meeting."

"That will be quite unnecessary." Ines' husky voice cut off the V.I, the tall Nordic woman turned to glare at Carson, "The only question I want answered is when I am getting my ship Carson."

The large balding man glared at her, "You'll get it when it is done, no sooner, no later. Do you know how hard it is hiding the construction of a ship this large? The Fourth fleet is running on fumes so the civvies don't realize where all the funds are going."

Drescher's voice cut in, "Which ship are we talking about, you were supposed to be working on two new models to my knowledge." The Hispanic woman had liberated Shanxi years before from the Turian's, despite this she was more often than not the pro-alien member of their Admirality.

Carson sneered at her, "Yes, well, if you bothered coming to these meeting with more regularity you would know that we had to shelve the _Terra Nova _class, we don't have to funds to run two black projects and make that damn boondoggle for the council."

Drescher's eyes narrowed at Carson's stalling. Not that Hacket could blame her, the _Jupiter _was lagging behind schedule to an unacceptable degree, let alone the fact that they had wasted funds on a ship that was now drifting half completed in dry-dock.

Before this spiraled into another game of pass the blame Hacket spoke up, "The _Normandy _project is essential in making sure the Council believes we are playing nice. Now all of this hinges on us having the _Jupiter_ functional and in the first fleet before the _Normandy _is complete. Can we do this Carson, yes or no?"

Carson sighed, the man from Luna had half a decade on Hacket but he wore it like it was thirty, and while he wasn't the right man for the job, he was the best they had. "Yes, the initial hull that we laid down will be done in another year, with another two hulls being laid day as we speak. The _Normandy _team reports to me that they don't expect to be operational before 2183, so that means we will beat it to the gate by a year."

"Thank you Carson."

Ines pipped up from her corner of the table, "Yes thank you Carson for telling me that I'll be getting my ship in a years time."

Carson glared across the table at his counterpart, "I don't even know why First fleet is getting the _Jupiter_, she's the first ever Dreadnought class Carrier. She should be with Fourth, or Fifth fleet doing something of importance, not being a glorified keep out sign for Earth."

Before anyone else could toss more fuel on the fire Hacket cut the both of them off, "Because Carson we need the Batarian's to think she is just an overblown keep out sign. And we need to keep the politicians from raising too much of a fuss when we launch her, they can't directly control the military but they do control our funding, perception is key here." A frown crossed his features as he used John's old catchphrase.

Drescher tapped her pen on the table, "Speaking of perception the Batarian's hit another two colonies last month, I know that the plan was for us to force Parliament into declaring war, but at this point I think we need to re-evaluate. Parliament won't bite, and after the Torphan incident the Batarian's are wary of directly engaging us."

Ines smirked, "Losing your edge Drescher? We all agreed to make sure that John's plan was carried out after his death. We need to safeguard our people from those who would exploit them, but we can't do that unless we have the legal authority to do so."

Carson nodded, "And it is only in a time of war that we have the authority to overrule the civilian government. They can go on about democracy, freedom, and all that good stuff, but we all know that those politicians are going to turn us into a damn vassal state of the council as long as they can line their pockets while they do it."

Drescher sighed, "I don't doubt our reasons for doing this, but do we really think John would want us sacrificing our own people to simply try to gain power? I don't think he would."

Hacket spoke up, "What John would have done, or wouldn't have done is not the question. I propose that we wait until next meeting to decide on the Batarian issue, if attacks drop again then we may have to find a new route. Any other business?"

A chorus of negatives echoed in the room, "Alright then, meeting adjourned."

Carson glanced over at Hacket, "You know if it wasn't for that Varan bitch the plan would have worked. Do you think the council knew what we were planning? I mean we nearly had the Batarian's back on the offensive for the first time since Torphan, and she shows up on a crusade to wipe out everyone of the bastards who cross out of their territory. Could it really just be a coincidence?"

Hacket nodded, "We're going to have to increase security measures again. We can't afford to lose anyone else after the setback we had after John's death."

Carson growled an acknowledgment, "John dies, and the very next day aliens are given permission to enter the Sol system. Scary to think of the damage they could do if they took out all of us."

Hacket didn't respond, but Carson was correct it did scare him to think of what would happen if the old guard suddenly disappeared.

S&amp;S

"I was hired to do things the Alliance couldn't, we were guerrilla's, insurgents, a thorn that the Turian's couldn't simply air strike out of the way. Eventually we captured the Turian in charge of the attack on Shanxi," a shaky breath emerged from Hannah's throat, "That, that was when everything went to shit."

"His name was Desolas Arterius, and yes he and Saren are related, brothers. Desolas had invaded Shanxi because he had come across information that led him to believe an alien device was on our planet, turned out he was right. Two men I was working with were exposed to it, one lived, while the other died. I at the time was guarding the general, but he manged to call in reinforcements and took all of us prisoner."

She reached out, grabbing a glass of water Eva had supplied her with which she quickly finished off, "We were lucky in the end, the war ended shortly after that, but Desolas wasn't done with us. I accompanied my remaining associate to Illium, because well I didn't have anything left." She paused, her eyes had a distant look to them, "I suppose you never knew I called Shanxi home, but it was, for a time at least."

Evalyn felt a twinge in her gut, as angry as she was right at her, Hannah was still her mother. "You don't need to go through it all, I understand how revisiting the past can be painful."

Hannah's face held a small, sad smile. "My little Eva, you always kept it all in didn't you, never talked about Armistice day, or tried to talk to anyone after Akuze. Suppose you get that from the both of us, but no, no, you need to hear this, it's important."

Hannah's face regained it's composure, she seemed to think for a few moments before beginning again. "We were captured again on Illium, Desolas had used the device to lure my friend, claiming they were connected still. What truly scared me, and still does to this day, is that Ben, our friend who had died had been brought back to life by the device. But he was changed, synthetic tissues kept his body running, forced him to do the device's bidding. It was then that Desolas had us brought back to Palaven."

Hannah caught her breath, hand tracing a pattern on her arm. "He was trying to use the device to raise an army he could control, or at least point in a general direction, I don't think even he had much of a plan at that point." A small sardonic smile played across Hannah's face at the memory of the hapless Turian.

"Eventually I managed to escape and free my friend, and together we convinced Saren to help us. I was knocked unconscious during the battle, but I was told that Saren called in an airstrike, killing everything left inside."

Hannah pulled out a small patch, on it was an older variant of the Cerberus symbol that the modern organization used. "Afterward my friend formed Cerberus, he asked me to join and I accepted, but my price was a new identity, a new life." A small smile flickered across her face, "Then I met your father, and well you've heard that story enough times."

Eva tried to ignore the burning sensation in her hand as her fists clenched together, "So you were a member of Cerberus for literally, my entire life. How many times was I left with Dad so you could go off on some mission for a bunch of psychopaths?!"

Hannah's expression notably darkened, "I don't know what exactly you think I do, but I primarily focused on recruitment. Co-opting Alliance personnel to be Cerberus agents, and I daresay that some of the stuff I have done doesn't compare to some of what you have done for the aliens, or did you actually believe Saren's lines about those so-called terrorists."

A heavy silence filled the room before Eva abruptly stood up, making her way to the kitchen she ripped open her fridge. Pulling out a beer she ignored her Mother as she popped off the top, tilting her head back she took a long swig of the bottle in her hand. "Was Dad Cerberus?"

An almost giddy laugh escaped from Hannah, "Heavens no, that man was willing to go to extremes to do what he thought was right, but he needed to work within the system. I never agreed with trying fix something that you know doesn't work, sometimes you just need to scrap the old model."

Making her way back to the couch she took another drink of her beer, "So what was Dad's deep dark secret then? If he wasn't Cerberus then what could he have done that would force the Council to have killed?"

Hannah's right hand moved once again to her wedding band, a faint look of sorrow crossing her face. "Your Father, and several other Admirals were attempting to forcibly break the Alliance away from the Council. I was never privy to their exact plans but John, due to his outspoken nature, was obviously targeted to send a message to the remaining Admirals." A shaky sigh came from her lips, "He never wanted you to know, only said that he could never take it if you looked at him like a monster."

Hannah was quiet as she gazed down at her hands, a small whisper escaping her lips, "He was right though, to see you look at me like that, I know what he was worried about. I'm sorry Evalyn."

Evalyn was quiet for some time, just kept focusing on the bottle in front of her. Finally though she looked up at her Mother, "So what you are saying is that I'm the child of two people who based their entire lives on lying to their only child." A small twinge on Hannah's face caught her attention, "Oh what the fuck was that about?"

Her mother glanced away, "Nothing that needs to come up today, please trust me on that. I still have some time if there was anything else that you wanted to know?"

"Probably, but I don't want to hear it if I'm being honest." She sighed standing up, grabbing her pistol as she did so. "Okay we've had the heart to heart you came her for, now get out."

Hannah blinked a few times, before giving a small nod of understanding. She pulled out a small device, placing it on the table in front of her, "You can use this to contact me, if you want to."

"Right well, guess we'll see then won't we." She gestured to the door with her pistol, "Leave."

Hannah sighed, but moved towards the door. "Regardless of everything Eva, know that I love you."

Evalyn kept her pistol on Hannah, "Right now Mom, I don't fucking care."

She did her best to ignore the tears that were prickling the corners of her eyes, as well as the one's that she could see in her Mother's. It was only until the door closed, and Hannah's form had disappeared from view that she collapsed to the floor, sobs racking her prone body.

S&amp;S

"Breaking News, the Alliance has just announced that Commander Hannah Shepard, wife of late Admiral John Shepard, and mother of late Lieutenant-Commander Evalyn Shepard, passed away from medical complications late last night. The Alliance did not disclose any further details, though the recent loss of her daughter is suspected to have been a factor. Hannah Shepard was known for both her combat record, and for her high profile spat with the her Father-in-law Harri-"

Jack Harper shifted the news feed into the background of his display, selecting the next file he observed the progress of the initial trial squads for his new infantry initiatives. These soldiers would be the best that humanity could offer, but Cerberus did not have the luxury at the moment of being able to field a large number of generalist cannon fodder like the Alliance. So he had authorized the deployment of several highly specialized training programs, as Cerberus' numbers increased they could branch out, but for now he was pleased with the progress at hand.

Turning back to his initial train of thought he tapped a comm icon to contact Miss Chambers, "Kelly, has either Eva, or Miranda reported in yet?"

From a speaker hidden in his chair her voice replied, "No sir, though Miss Lawson was in transit at the time. We do know that Mrs. Core landed the Citadel, though she could always be laying low in a safe house she set up there."

"Thank you Kelly."

Jack sighed, and moved from his chair to look out the window of the station. Tapping a display hidden in the wall a small bar deployed, one of five spaced about the room. As the bar poured him a drink he starred out at the binary star system before him, this would likely be the last time he would see this view so he wanted to savor it.

As much as he hated to admit it, he was a paranoid man. While yes, this very trait had kept him alive on numerous occasions, it did have the side effect of destroying trust between yourself and those you considered friends. But even if he didn't want to believe it Eva's actions told their own story easily enough, she had been pulling back from Cerberus every day since that incident with Evalyn, and she had been taking Miranda with her.

Miranda, the woman was a gift to the organization, and her price for such loyalty was honestly a pittance compared to what she could have asked for, especially when that very boon turned into a collar around her neck. That wasn't to say that Jack didn't have a fondness for the girl, but in the end she was just a highly skilled asset, though at least she was infinitely more charming than Leng or Rasa.

Miranda was still salvageable, but Jack knew that he needed to deal with Eva before she had the chance to enact whatever plan she had in mind.

"V.I, contact Leng. Tell him that Operation Hislop is a go, last known location was the Citadel."

He continued to watch the stars for some time, before finally moving over to his console, a few keystrokes that only he knew and the base's auto-destruct sequence was activated.

Glancing one last time out at the view laid before him, he felt a twinge in him that he hadn't felt for a very long time.

"I'm sorry Eva, say hello to Ben for me."

S&amp;S

"What kind of fucking game are you playing at Steven?"

The obviously angry form of Rear Admiral Kahoku filled his screen, though quite frankly in Hacket's opinion the man should be pissed at himself not at anyone else.

"I'm covering up your mess, or did you want it getting out that one of our most decorated servicewomen just happened to be a member of a terrorist organization." Kahoku opened his mouth to retort but Hacket shut him down, "Stow it, if I hear of you stating anything to the contrary you will find yourself stuck on liaison duty with Ambassador Udina. Now that is the last I expect to hear on the subject, do I make myself clear?."

A tense silence filled the call before Kahoku gave a terse nod in agreement.

"Good, now what are we going to do with Gates? Can she be convinced to keep quiet?"

Kahoku paused, seeming to give the matter quite a bit of thought, "She looked up to the whole Shepard clan as role models for the Alliance, if we were to phrase it as a means to protect John and Evalyn's images she may play along." He shifted in his seat, pulling out a document from somewhere on his desk, "I was about to recommend her for N-School before this, she may see it was a payoff for her silence, but maybe not. We need more like her though, with Evalyn dead, and that bastard Kressner still alive we need some good PR friendly blood in the N's."

"Alright then see to it, contact me if anyone else doesn't go to plan." With that Hacket terminated the link, "Damn it Hannah, I didn't need this right now."

He leaned over in his chair, pulling out the bottle of scotch that the last Admiral of Fifth fleet had left him, Hacket had put a far greater dent into the bottle than his predecessor had, and it wasn't a fact that filled him with pride. Of course if he could rely on anyone to do their jobs he wouldn't be hitting the bottle so hard, Kahoku's utter failure at subduing Hannah was just the latest in a long line of screw-ups.

But the man was right about Gates, they needed a PR friendly face, and the small spunky marine was that in spades.

Everything had truthfully gone to shit when Kressner had managed to not die when he was supposed to. It had been the crux of John's plan, to finally push the Batarian's into open conflict, and the blitz had been just what they needed. Even had Gates not been there to save the day they would have had what they wanted, then all they had to do was lose the next battle to win the war. But Carson had gotten it in their heads that they could accomplish multiple objectives at once, get the loss they needed to push the politicians on to a war footing, and take out the habitual malcontent that was N7 Max Kressner.

Kressner was the oldest actively serving N7 to date at 47 years, he had risen up through the gangs of the North American megacities, though records indicated he likely was born in the northern region of the continent. He had moved up through the ranks, first as an enforcer, then finally as a kind of weapon for hire that had no allegiance except to being paid. He had of course been caught, they always are, but then that was where mistakes had been made.

Kressner had been offered a deal, he skipped the death penalty, but in exchange he would work the remaining years of his sentence off in the Alliance. The man quickly proved his usefulness, but he soon proved to be an asset that was impossibly difficult to control, prone to violet outbursts, and with no care of collateral damage. This was only made worse when Hacket's predecessor had approved the man for N-training.

So Hacket and the others had agreed to Carson's alteration, what they hadn't expected was for, of the multitudes of soldiers who died on Torphan, that Kressner would not be one of them, rather he had turned it around and won the day. Now what they were left with was a Batarian Hegemony too timid to mount any true attacks, politicians obsessed with funding co-species opportunities projects at the expense of the military, and a Kressner who was still fucking alive.

As Hacket poured another glass he figured that he could just buy whoever got saddled with this job after him a new bottle.

S&amp;S

She wasn't sure how long she lay on the floor, she only found herself being brought back from her stupor when she felt a blanket being draped over her shoulders. She reached her hand up to grasp the blue hand still on her shoulder, squeezing lightly she glanced up at at Liara whose eyes held nothing but worry.

"I'm okay." They both knew it was a lie, but it was still a lie she had to tell herself.

Liara lowered herself down to Shepard's level, tentatively setting her head on the human woman's shoulder. Her voice was quiet, but strong at the same time. "You don't have to explain to me. I, I just want you to know that I'm here, if you need me."

"Thank you Liara." They stayed there for a few more minutes, before Shepard finally shifted. "Can you help me to the bed, I'm kind of done out." Liara face held a small smile as she looked at Shepard, though it was quickly hidden from view as she shifted to help the other woman stand.

Shepard landed ungracefully in the bed, she rolled over to find Liara busying herself with trying to get the blankets over Evalyn. Eva reached out, taking hold of one of the Asari's hands, causing the blue tinted alien glance up. "Would you mind joining me for a few minutes until I pass out, I, everything feels calmer when your around."

Though she wasn't positive, she swore that a blush crossed over the Asari's cheeks. But that thought went to the back of her mind as Liara slipped into the bed with her, the Asari actually placed her arm across Evalyn's body, an action that while she didn't mind, was out of character for the shyer woman. But as Shepard settled down into the bed she realized that she didn't care, as right in that moment, she just needed someone to remind her that she wasn't alone.

S&amp;S

Kai Leng was beginning to tire of this waiting game, Hannah Shepard had disappeared into apartment sixteen nearly two hours ago. And while The Illusive Man had assured him that she wouldn't be using the ship docked at the apartment, Leng couldn't help but grumble at the fact he was essentially counting on the woman to make a strategically unwise decision.

In an effort to distract himself he had taken to examining the surrounding area. The complex in question was high end, but it downplayed this aspect severely. People who lived here had money, but didn't have the need to show it. It was also according to Cerberus' latest sweep of the area the home of four Spectres, he wondered if the Asari that had stopped him from getting to Subject Zero lived here. He grinned at the prospect, a chance to even the score would be a welcome distraction from this waiting.

A predatory smile crept across his face when his target burst into view, based on discoloration around her eyes, and the erratic nature of many of her movements she seemed to be in some manner of emotion distress. Perfect, a distracted enemy is a dead enemy.

He tapped the communication device on his wrist, signaling the backup team that he had the target in sight. He would normally get paired with Rasa for a mission like this, but she was assigned elsewhere at this moment, not that the woman was exactly an asset most of the time.

He began to follow Hannah from the maintenance catwalk he had been using as a vantage point, truthfully it was amazing how few people ever looked up, ignorant of the ghost drifting above their heads.

Even in her compromised state his target kept her wits about her somewhat, doubling back at several points to catch those tailing her. But soon enough she led him to her destination, and to the second traitor of the day.

A frown crossed the operatives face at the sight of Miranda Lawson, not that he held any particular fondness for the overbearing woman, but she was skilled in her own way, he could appreciate that. But he had orders, and they were to tail his target and make note of whomever she contacted, then kill her of course.

Both woman only said a few words, but it was obvious that Lawson was worried about Shepard. Before long they both set out towards a nearby private docking pad, he mentally cursed when he lost sight of them to the structure.

He tapped his communicator briefly, "Both targets are heading towards a launch facility. Intercepting."

"Negative Leng, your orders were to tail them until you are given the order to engage. Do not engage, repeat do no enga-" Leng shut off the link, tired of the conversation. He ignored the peon's next few attempts to contact him, he was not going to allow these traitors to escape.

He moved swiftly, finding a sheltered spot where he could drop down to ground level. Quickly closing the distance between himself and the building he slipped inside, quickly taking stock of the interior he found himself alone in the entrance way.

Moving forward he quickly became aware of two voices locked in conversation.

"Everything is in position?"

"Yes, teams are moving in on the shipyard as we speak, though Julian's team will be behind schedule, one of his team was out of position when the call went through. Assuming we leave now we should make it to the _Nova _before the Illusive Man can scramble any reinforcements to it."

"Good, that's good." There was a long pause before the same voice continued, "Miri you can back out if you want to, I understand that you are conflicted on this course of action."

"No, I am going to protect my family, and that means keeping you safe too Mom."

The sound of movement down the hallways alerted him to their movement, and he ducked into a room he hoped was unoccupied. It wasn't, but the Asari inside didn't have the chance to make any noise anyway.

Glancing at the security monitor his former roommate had been looking at he saw that they were currently boarding a small freighter converted for luxury travel, such a ship had many places that a man like himself could hide in.

A cruel smile played across his lips as he ghosted across the landing pad and slipped into the ship via a lower maintenance hatch, after all why settle for killing two traitors, when with a little bit of patience you could take them all out?

As the ship rumbled from takeoff he made himself comfortable in the crawlspace, he had no idea how long the journey would be, but he would be rested once they arrived.

S&amp;S

A shrill alarm in her ear woke Shepard up with a jolt, the sudden movement also caused Liara to stir from her slumber as well.

"What is it Shepard?" The groggy question emerged from the dazed woman next to her.

Before Shepard could respond text began to flash before her, 'Kai Leng just boarded the shuttle your Mother took off of the station.'

"No!" She hurled herself from her bed, hurrying to arm herself. She was not going to leave things off the way they had, and there was no way in hell she was letting Leng kill her mother.

"Shepard what is wrong?" Liara had followed her, worry etched into her features. "You need to talk to me Evalyn."

Eva glanced at her companion, she began to speak even as she still pulled on pieces of her Spectre gear. "A Cerberus agent just hid aboard my Mother's ship, I know that she's done things that make me sick, but she, she's still." Shepard could feel her chest constrict at the thought of what if that had been her last conversation with her Mother.

Liara's touch brought her back, "But she's your Mother. I understand." She smiled at Shepard, "So how are you going to track her? If she already left they could be anywhere at this point."

Despite the situation a small smirk played across Eva's features, "I put a tracer on Mom before she left, all I have to do is follow it and take out Leng."

Liara moved over to the armor she had only bought earlier in the day, "Then I'm coming with you."

Eva stopped, turning to face the young Asari. "There is no way in hell you are coming with me. Leng is beyond dangerous, and I won't have you putting your life needlessly in danger!"

"So I suppose you are the only one who can put her life in danger." Liara's voice was calm, but there was an edge to it that normally wasn't there.

"Leng and I both possess training that you don't Liara, and I don't want to lose you just because you are trying to prove a point!" Her voice had increased in volume steadily, her calm being increasingly rattled by the events so far.

Liara seemed to notice her distress, and placed a cool hand on her cheek. "Evalyn I am fine with the risks, and I'm not letting you go into this alone. You saved me, let me at least help you. Plus one of us needs to keep a calm head about this." She leaned forward, pressing their foreheads together.

She knew it was a bad idea, but she also knew that leaving her behind was also a bad idea. "Alright, but you stay back, and if Leng shows up you run. No heroics."

"Of course."

"Promise me." It came out as little more than a whisper, but one that Liara heard none the less.

The young Asari leaned forward, their lips barely brushing each other, "I promise."

Shepard nodded, pulling back so that she could continue suiting up. "Alright then, get that armor on, and grab at least a pistol from that weapons locker over there. Once this is all over remind me to get you some time on a gun range."

"I seem to be doing fine on my own." Liara grabbed one of the weapons from the locker, and clipped it to her hip.

Shepard just smirked, "That's a machine pistol Liara." She walked over to the locker, pulling out one of her spare pistols, clipping it securely to Liara's other hip. "We are definitely getting some time in at the range."

"It's a date." Liara's face darkened at her comment, "Not that we are dating, or that we aren't, Goddess. I merely meant that it would be a good for the two of us to get some one on one training." With that last sentence she just dropped her head into her hands, "Can we please just pretend this never happened?"

A large smile crossed Shepard's face at Liara's embarrassment, "Not a chance, now that I know I have some one on one training to look forward too." Liara too, was soon smiling back at Shepard, though her cheeks were still delightfully flushed as Shepard helped her pull the rest of her gear on.

S&amp;S

Hannah marched through the _Terra Nova's _hanger bay with a purpose, her people had all managed to land on the not quite finished battleship without incident. But that was the easy part, the hard part was making sure that they actually controlled the ship.

"Vasquez make sure we have control of this section of the ship before moving towards engineering, if this goes south I am not getting trapped like a rat on this ship. Marian I want your team to make their way to the auxiliary bridge, see what systems you can tap into from there. Mark, you need to split your men up to secure both the Starboard and Port magazines."

A chorus of affirmatives rang out, though Julian stood there looking puzzled about his lack of orders. He had been at one time a soldier on Shanxi, but like her he had long since lost his faith in the Alliance. Now the large man from Shanxi was her go to support for ground missions, and someone she could rely on.

"Julian your team is in charge of taking control of life support, but first who the fuck is she?"

She starred rather pointedly at a woman around Miranda's age, with pale skin and a rather dark hair pulled into a ponytail. She glanced at Hannah, then back to Julian, seemingly unsure who the question was directed to.

Of the two Julian spoke first, "Her name is Faith Channing, she's trustworthy Hannah."

Hannah glanced at her, before pulling the rifle off of her back. "Guess we'll see. New blood you're with me, if you are trustworthy I need you close to ascertain that, and if not. Well I'll still want you close."

She turned to Miranda, "Okay give everyone who needs it the frequency we'll be on." Miranda nodded, and tapped a few icon's on her omni, flashes of orange flared across the room indicating the intended parties had received the frequency.

"Okay people move out!" Her voice carried across the bay, and her men went to work.

Her team quickly assembled and began to move towards the bridge, but as they continued without meeting any sign of life she felt herself become more on edge. "This doesn't make sense, Jack spent a fortune setting this ship up, why would he leave it so undefended?"

As they slowly entered the bridge she still found no answers to her questions, a quick but thorough check found no evidence of traps or sabotage, which made her conclude that whatever Jack left behind must simply be elsewhere on the ship.

"All right teams, sit rep."

The gravelly voice of the older wetwork specialist came though first. "Vasquez here, everything is nominal."

Julian's voice soon followed, "Everything is all clear down here boss."

"Mark here, both my teams have secured the magazines, but we have no joy on ammunition."

Several moments went by without an update from Marian, Hannah frowned praying that the woman was just absorbed in her work. "Marian, I need a sitrep on your team."

The wait for the next reply seemed to take an eternity, only for a voice that was very much not Marian's to respond. "You're next Hannah."

Panic flooded through her as she recognized Kai Leng's voice. She spun to Miranda, "Miri get our sensors online now, I need to know if he has reinforcements coming. Faith, Johnson, Cavil, you're with me, the rest of you hold the bridge with Miranda."

As they began to race towards Leng's last known position she could only hope they could get to him before he got to any more of her men.

S&amp;S

"What class of ship is that Shepard?" Liara's voice came from the seat behind her, but Shepard honestly had no answer for her.

"I don't know, her hull is too big to be a Cruiser but she's not large enough to be a dreadnought, and there isn't enough hanger space for her to be a light carrier."

'Ma'am, there are several approaching boarding craft. Their profile matches one of the suspected ships that Leng used to escape your last altercation.'

"Liara, Tess tells me that Leng has incoming reinforcements, so once we land Tess is going to take _Shanxi _out to discourage them some. Much as I hate it, that means you are coming with me."

A lightly armored hand was placed on her shoulder, to which she reached back and squeezed it. "Ya I know, everything is going to be alright. We're going to jump from the cockpit, no reason to land and waste time."

She guided the ship through the field that kept the atmosphere contained inside the hanger, and triggered the jets that helped keep the ship stable as it hovered on it's mass effect field. The canopy smoothly slid open as she hurled herself from it, Liara close behind.

With them clear of the ship _Shanxi _cruised back out of the hanger. Shepard's omni flared as she checked for the tracer's location."Tracker says that Mom is somewhere near the bow of the ship, knowing her that is also where Leng will be. You ready?"

A terse nod came from Liara, "As much as can be expected."

They moved quickly through the ship, finding the occasional body, almost all of them dead from a blade. "Cocky bastard always did think too highly of himself. Look at me I can kill you up close with a pointy object, goddess it's like we didn't even invent guns."

She heard a small snort behind her, causing her to glance back. "What?"

"Nothing, well, I was wondering, do you actually notice that you curse like an Asari sometimes?"

Shepard could feel a small smile tugging at her lips despite the situation, "You try talking exclusively like an Human for a few years and tell me if you pick up any vocal ticks Miss. T'soni."

Before their conversation could continue a section of the wall in front of them indented in, and Cerberus troops began to pour out of the newly created breach. Before Shepard could even yell for Liara to take cover she Asari's body flared blue, and a singularity formed right on top of the hostiles. They were quickly taken out when a second flare flashed through Liara, as she hit the field with a warp, causing the two effects to violently destabilize each other.

As Shepard starred at the corpse strewn hallway she glanced at Liara, "Remind me to not forget our anniversary should we ever have one." She noted with some worry that Liara seemed visibly fatigued from the attack, "Hey, this isn't a race Liara. Don't push yourself so hard that you burn out before we are out of here."

Liara nodded, "I, I am simply out of practice. I fear that I have let my biotics slip somewhat since I parted ways with Mother."

Glancing again at the hallway Shepard let out a low whistle, "If this is you out of shape, kind of scared to see what happens when you are at your peak."

Liara smiled at that, and having caught her breath straightened her posture, "Where to from here?"

"Forward, but they have moved closer to us since then. Looks like we are getting close." At that they took off at a jog,

S&amp;S

Rasa cursed Leng with every fiber of her being, the man was single handedly ruining this operation that she had spent nearly a year preparing for. Now not only was she likely not going to be able to worm her way into Hannah Shepard's splinter group, but she was probably going to die on that psychopath's blade.

Their group had made their way to what was a fairly spacious briefing room, though without the furniture she was just guessing as to the purpose. Unfortunately for them Leng, and his sidekicks had been waiting for them.

"I told you that you were next Hannah. Too bad Miranda isn't here, I would love to see the look on her face as I gut you." His gaze however shifted on to her, and Rasa could only keep up the prayer in her head that her disguise held for the moment.

But the smile that split his face said otherwise, "Looks like I get to really enjoy myself today, you are looking awfully pale today Rasa."

Before that statement could be elaborated on the wall opposite of where Leng stood a loud reverberation filled the room as the far bulkhead dented inward, followed closely by a second, though this time the wall splintered, blasted apart by some type of explosive.

Two figures quickly entered the newly made breach, one white, and one black, and while obviously feminine it was hard to tell anything else about them. The black armored one hurled herself at Leng, slamming him into a bulkhead with a savage biotic punch to his torso.

Leng however recovered, a smirk covering his features. "You have no idea how much I've wanted this rematch Asari." With that he charged, drawing his blade as he closed the gap to his target.

He was intercepted however by a throw tossed by his target's companion, and he was thrown though the still open hatchway that he had entered. The figure clad in black chased after him, seemingly content to ignore the cannon fodder that Leng had brought with him.

Hannah and her team had meanwhile opened fire on the remaining Cerberus troops, who likewise returned fire. One of Hannah's men grabbed a grenade from his belt, but before he had the chance to throw it red blossomed from his head.

Hannah's voice thundered in the room, "Grenade!"

Rasa tried to run but found herself caught in the blast wave, luckily for her though she landed in a heap near the hatch that Leng had used, and it was this same hatch that she pulled herself through. Glancing back inside the room she could see several Cerberus soldiers engulfed in warp fire summoned by the figure in white.

Grimacing she pulled herself to her feet, stumbling down the torn up hallways, scorch marks from explosives, and metal warped by biotic strikes littered the hallway, as well as splashes of crimson blood. She frowned, glancing around she confirmed that she didn't see any purple, that Leng wasn't even able to land a hit on the Asari was troubling, as much as she hated the man, he did have skills when it came to murder.

She finally stumbled into the hanger bay, and it was as if she had stumbled upon some clash from the mists of human history.

The black figure's helmet lay on the ground nearby, the visor shattered thanks to a knife sticking in it, but rather than an Asari, Rasa found herself starring at a dead woman. Evalyn Shepard, returned from the dead, a gash across her head trailing blood into the equally blood red pupil that was her last gift from her Father.

The blazing blade on Evalyn Shepard's arm connected with Leng's, forcing him to give ground to her stronger swing. But Leng was faster, ducking back in under her guard and scoring another slash to a weak point on her armor.

Shepard hissed from pain as Leng danced back out of range, a smirk playing across his face. "I've waited a long time to rewrite your story Shepard, it's a pity that your Mother won't be here to see the last chapter."

"Always did like to talk too much." Shepard pulsed blue for a split second as she suddenly enveloped Leng in a stasis field. Rasa frowned, a stasis field could only be disrupted so much before it broke, so Shepard couldn't expect to finish Leng off while he was in it.

Shepard charged at Leng lashing out at the Cerberus agent with a biotic kick, the impact indented Leng's chest armor, as well as knocking him on his ass. Shepard pulled a pistol from her hip as she landed, opening fire on the recovering Leng, the man had fast reflexes which he attempted to use, but Shepard had better aim.

Several bullets stuck home two catching him in his legs, while one punched through his right knee, Leng bit out a cry of pain at that, but even still he tried to struggle to his feet.

Shepard however was having none of that, she swiftly walked up, kicking the man's legs from under him, before firing a round into his other kneecap. Leveling her pistol at his skull she spoke, her voice sounded almost amused by his struggles. "You never could quite measure up could you Leng, don't worry, when the story of Evalyn Shepard gets written I'll make sure you get a mention."

Shepard suddenly collapsed as several rounds punctured her body, Rasa lowered the smoking rifle in her hands as she rushed over to Leng. "Get your arm over me, we need to get out of here."

Leng wordlessly complied, though she was certain that it was to save his own life, not from any actual trust in herself. The two of them hobbled over to the shuttle she had taken here, she quickly dumped Leng in the back while she moved into the cockpit.

The shuttle was still prepped to take off, presumably to escape the ship should this mission go south.

Glancing at the body slumped behind her she mused that it really had.

Taking the ship out of the hanger she accelerated the ship to FTL speed as fast as they could, they could find a relay to jump from when they were clear of this ship.

S&amp;S

Evalyn awoke in an unfamiliar sick bay, but from the sound of the beeps, and the smell of the place she was pretty sure of her location in a general sense. She bit back a groan of pain when she tried to shift herself, earning an exasperated sigh from someone out of her view.

"Really? You wake up after getting shot and the first thing you do is try to stand." A rather stunning woman moved into view, but it was her voice that caught her attention.

"Solheim I presume?"

The raven haired woman came to a stop, "The accent I suppose, yes that was me. But right now I'm the person who just fixed the four holes in your chest."

Shepard heard a murmur in the opposite direction, she turned to see Liara sleeping uncomfortably in a chair nearby.

Solheim sauntered into her view, her arms crossed underneath her breasts, "She hasn't left since she found you in the hanger. Gave her quite the shock, I nearly had to sedate her in order to start your surgery."

"I hope for your sake that you didn't."

Solheim glanced at her, the look spelled out how seriously she took the threat. "Evalyn, threats are more intimidating when one can sit up."

Shepard frowned at the casual use of her name, people who knew her called her Eva, everyone called her Shepard. Except for Liara, but she was willing to give the Asari slack that she wasn't going to give to this woman.

Before she could say anything though Hannah entered the med bay, glancing to see the two of them glaring daggers at one another she sighed. "Miranda, Eva, play nice."

Solheim, now known as Miranda, frowned. She nodded towards Hannah, before pulling out small syringe and turning towards Shepard, "This should dull the pain enough to get you to your ship, I'll give you a second dose that you can administer to yourself when you land." A small prick on her arm and the woman seemed to consider her job done, leaving the room in a rather rush that made Evalyn suspicious.

Hannah offered her arm to help her up, which she accepted. She reached out, gently shaking Liara awake, the blurry eyed Asari groggily glanced across the room before realizing it was Eva in front of her.

"Come on Liara, we're leaving."

Liara nodded, a worried smile plastered on her face as she moved to support Shepard's other side. They made good time to the hanger, it being strategically located near the hanger to more readily get wounded to it.

When they arrived Shepard glanced at Liara, squeezing her hand lightly she quietly spoke to her, "Can you go and make sure the ship is all ready, I just want to have a few words with Mom first."

Liara nodded, and began to walk towards the ship, but she halted and spun around planting her lips solidly on Shepard's. She pulled back just as quick, a small whispered "You promise me next time." Shepard nodded several times, "I will."

As Liara began to move away Evalyn noticed that Hannah was looking very awkwardly at the floor, noticing Eva's attention she smiled lightly, "Thank you Eva for coming to the rescue." Neither of them really seemed to know where to go with that, and so they ended up awkwardly surveying the damage her fight with Leng had done to the hanger.

Finally Eva sighed, "Ya, it, it wasn't a problem."

Hannah nodded a few times, "If you feel up to it there are some people here who would probably like to meet you. I mean, it's not like you would have to hide yourself around here."

Eva glanced away, trying to contain the conflicting emotions playing through her. She just felt jumbled, like someone had put all her emotions inside a whirlpool. "Mom I don't think I can handle that right now, even if what you said was true, there is still a lot of lies between us." She paused, drawing a shaky breath, "Just give me some time, I'll get in touch somehow when I'm ready."

"Alright Eva, I understand." Hannah leaned in, kissing her lightly on the cheek before pulling back. "Go on, you have a galaxy to protect." Eva began to turn away, but was halted by an arm on her shoulder, she glanced back at Hannah who just smiled. "Remember that I love you honey."

"I know you do, and I love you too Mom." Eva turned away from her Mother, and moved across the deck until she clambered up into _Shanxi's _cockpit, Liara already secured in the passenger seat. She turned back towards her mother, though she noted Miranda was also lingering near the entrance of the hanger. But she didn't want to stick around here to figure out what was going on there, so she shelved the topic until next time.

"Ready to go back to the Citadel?"

A soft noise of agreement came out of Liara, she had drained herself during the fight with the soldiers, and while Shepard felt guilty about leaving her alone. She knew that getting Leng out of that room had saved a lot of lives.

"So, is our anniversary the first time we had sex? Or is it going to be our first official date? Just figured I should check so that I don't find myself on your bad side."

The Asari's flustered responses kept her in a good mood the whole flight back.

S&amp;S

AN: Well longest chapter to date, something I'm quite happy of, I personally always prefer a longer chapter to read. Not too many chapters left, then it will be on to ME 1, which will be a separate story not simply me continuing this one so you guys are aware.

If people wanted to let me know how they thought the fight scene went I would appreciate it, as I said before I'm trying to get some practice in before stuff really starts to blow up.

Thanks to all those who hit the buttons below, I always appreciate it.


	12. Domino Effect

AN: First off sorry for the delay, I'm shopping for a roommate at this time so that takes up some time.

And full disclosure, I goofed. I've been pretty rigorous in adhering to the official time line but I seem to have forgotten the date of the actual blasted FCW. Ebon Hawk picked up on it and I extend my heartfelt thanks to him for noticing that Shepard can't be her canon age given that she wasn't born until after the FCW.

Honest it works out better, puts her in a more vulnerable age for when John died. So I'm saying that she was born in April of 2158, which puts her at around the same age as Ash. So instead of enlisting in 2172 as is canon, she will have enlisted in 2173 entering into a military college early based on her being freaking Shepard.

And I'd like to really thank everyone for the reviews and the mass amounts of follows I got for the last chapter. I don't write to get them, but I really do appreciate them all the same.

Song: Storming New Caprica by Bear McCreary

Tela Vasir: Messing With The Best by Miracle Of Sound

S&amp;S

2182 CE

Shepard waited in a secluded area of the Citadel, only a minute away from the Spectre offices, she was in her disguise as Varan so she had no worries about Kahoku recognizing her but she felt uneasy about this situation.

Two pairs of footsteps approaching her location caused her to pull further back into the shadows, one was the Admiral in question, the other she recognized as Rachel Gates the rising star of the N-program. Kahoku seemed calm about the situation, but Gates seemed on edge hand hovering near an obviously concealed weapon.

"I don't like this Sir."

Kahoku merely glanced at her, before glancing at the time on his omni, "She's late." Gates let out a nervous chuckle at that, "Ya I somehow don't think Spectres care too much if they are tardy."

Deciding she had waited long enough Shepard materialized out of the shadows, her synthetic limb clamping down on Gates' own arm that was trying to reach for her weapon. "That will be quite unnecessary Miss. Gates."

Kahoku for his part didn't seem entirely put off by the situation, merely inclined his head by way of greeting. "Spectre, glad to see that you could make it. And I'd appreciate it if you could let go of the Lieutenant, I promised I'd return her in the same condition I got her." Shepard released her grip on Gates, causing the woman to recoil from her like she was a snake.

"Of course Admiral. Now you contacted me in regards to a matter we both need to keep from our respective bosses, do I have your assurance that Miss. Gates here won't be any trouble." Gates seemed a little startled at this, but Kahoku merely nodded, "It is thanks to the Lieutenant that we are even aware of what we do know, we can trust her."

Shepard's omni flared to life as she brought up a file for the Admiral to view, "My findings have been that Cerberus has lost numerous key personnel over the last year to a small splinter faction, while they have no official name I will refer to them as Orthus from now on."

Gates confusion was evident on her face, "Orthus?" Kahoku himself seemed confused as well, but half a career spent involved in military politics had taught him to keep his outbursts in check. Shepard glanced towards the marine, "Orthus was the brother of Cerberus, tasked with guarding the cattle of the giant Geryon. He would be killed by the one you called Heracles during his penance."

Gates' expression had become even more confused, "Why would you even know that?"

Shepard could only smile into her helmet, truth be told she had only found out about it thanks to Liara. "It came up during early research into Cerberus, when an organization names itself, it is not something done without a great deal of thought."

Kahoku cleared his throat, "That is all well and good, but can we get back to the topic at hand. I need some actionable intelligence, or at least some leads I can start chasing down."

Shepard pushed aside the surge of annoyance she felt towards the Admiral, after all the man was a dog and he just needed something to chase. She pulled up the next file she had queued, an image of a man wearing an Alliance issued security badge appeared.

"Armistan Banes, he has been a deep cover Cerberus operative for nearly his entire career, his work history shows that he has worked exclusively for the Alliance since he was of age, and is suspected to be how Cerberus moves their own research into the Alliance proper. He's currently somewhere in the Traverse, though I'm uncertain as to the reason why. He's the fastest lead that you can track down Admiral."

Kahoku looked like she had just killed his dog, "Damn, Banes is a bastard but I never thought he was Cerberus. Alright, thank you for this Spectre, if I learn anything of use from him I will let you know."

Shepard merely nodded, fading back into the shadows before checking her omni. "Alright Tess, did you find what we were looking for in the Spectre archives?"

'Yes Ma'am, and it appears that what your Mother said was correct.'

Shepard could almost see the scene playing out in front of her, the frame of the shuttle buckling as the core inside went critical, the flare of pain as the shrapnel had caught hit her, waking up in the hospital where no one was willing to look an eleven year old girl in the eye and tell her the truth.

Evalyn shook her head, now was not the time for this. "Tell Liara I'm heading home, I need some time to process this."

'Of course Ma'am.'

S&amp;S

"Today begins the maiden voyage of the _Jupiter _the first of her class she will be joining the First fleet, or as the fleet is is often called "Earth's shield." When she arrives today Admiral Lindholm will be transferring her flag to the newly constructed ship. While the Jupiter class does not outgun either of her predecessors she does possess the largest fighter escort ever carried by a warship, while a classified launch system eliminates the weaknesses that other carrier classes possess."

"It was also announced today that the two more Jupiter class ships are in production, the _Juno, _and the _Fortuna. _While no comment was made on whether or not the Kilimanjaro class was being discontinued like the Everest class our panel of experts here will illustrate both the pros and the cons. First off lets go around the tab-"

Sparatus shut off the feed with a sound of contempt, "They really need to turn everything into a circus don't they."

Tevos glanced at him, her face not even hiding her annoyance at the Turian. "You do realize that this is a direct insult to the Council's authority, that ship is in clear violation of the treaty. We may need to send a clearer message to the Humans, perhaps raising tariffs on goods coming out of the SA?"

Valern coughed in the corner, tapping into the interface built into the desk before him. "The ship is technically not breaking any treaty limitations, as the treaty does not limit size, only armament. If we go by size then technically the Quarian liveships are also treaty violators." Sparatus nodded a few times at that before adding, "We also don't if such an action could have the opposite effect of what we want. It may cause the Humans to close ranks, right at the critical point where they are finally starting to integrate into the galactic economy."

Tevos groaned, how could they not see that this species was not going to play by the same rules, she had seen the signs when they pushed the Batarian's out of the Traverse, but she couldn't act unless she got the other two on her side.

Before she could argue the point further a priority hail popped up on the screen, glancing at the I.D attached she was surprised to see it was Bau. Glancing at Valern she nodded for him to start the call, "Agent Bau report."

The Salarian's voice filled the room, but no image meant that he must too busy to set up a vidlink. "There was a highly sophisticated hack at the Spectre offices today, and I'm afraid that it was most likely a fellow Spectre, likely Shepard."

Sparatus' mandibles flared in a frown, "That is a very serious charge Bau, I assume you must have some evidence to back it up." While Tevos found the Turian aggravating at the best of times he was right in this instance, they took great care to ensure that the Spectre's didn't point fingers at one another over such matters.

"Fully understand that Sir, but they were after a singular piece of information. Attempted to mask it by downloading junk data, but easy enough to spot when you built the system. Mission logs for Saren Arterius, dated for 2168. Will keep this under wraps until you decide what you want to do with it, Bau out."

A thud echoed through the room as Sparatus tossed the mug beside him across the room, he turned pointing a talon at his fellows, "I told the both of you that this would happen! Do you know how much damage that Human can do to us?"

Valern for his part was in full think tank mode, "Question is how did she come across this, must not have known before she was inducted, did someone tell her afterwards?" Tevos groaned, holding up her hand to shut him up. "It doesn't matter how she found out, but rather what are we to do about it?"

All three of them were silent for sometime, before Tevos glanced at Sparatus. "You had Saren make a backup plan for if she went rogue right?" Sparatus spluttered at that, "You think that I would conspire behind your backs simply because I don't trust Shepard." The look on both Tevos' and Valern's face must have said it all because he deflated shortly afterwards.

"Yes, though we'll need to contact Saren for the details." He paused briefly, "Do we really want to do this, if she somehow survives we will never have her trust, and that is only if she doesn't outright suspect us."

Valern nodded, while Tevos smoothly spoke, "We can't be sure that her hacking of the Spectre offices and this power play by the Alliance are not somehow connected. What if her discharge was simply part of a long term plan to get leverage over the Council? You say can we afford to kill her? I ask can we afford to not?"

Sparatus solemnly nodded in agreement, "I'll make the call."

S&amp;S

Shepard slipped inside the apartment, while she had already informed Liara that she was returning it had become a habit of hers to try and sneak up on the young Asari. Liara however was already awaiting her in the living area, a small frown pulled at her dark lips. "Tess told me what you found out, I'm sorry about what happened to your Father Evalyn."

"I appreciate the sentiment Liara, but you have nothing to apologize for." Shepard moved across the room, sitting down next to Liara, entangling her still natural hand with Liara's. "I'm honestly surprised by how unsurprised I am, I mean it just made too much sense for me to try and doubt the evidence." She tried to give Liara a reassuring smile, but from the look on her companion's face she failed to convince her. "I can understand why Dad would have been their target, he was less of a man and more of the embodiment of an ideal, the type of person that was larger than life." Shepard paused to laugh a little, "Listen to me, still just Dad's little soldier at heart I guess."

Liara squeezed her hand, "I know someone else who is like that, and I'm certain that he would be proud of you Evalyn." A small smile tugged at Eva's lips, but a small sob still wracked her body, "I'm sorry, but I've tried not to think about the accident for a very long time. Now it feels like my every waking moment is spent reliving it."

She felt Liara's body shift closer, a cool hand traced it's way across her jaw. "I know you don't like to talk about it but a meld could help." Shepard shook her head, cutting off Liara's further attempts to convince her, it had come up several times since they had become an item and was a growing point of tension between the two of them. "This is my pain Liara, I don't want you to have to deal with it as well."

Liara sighed, but nodded. "I understand Evalyn, but one day you will need to lower those defenses and let me in. I'm not human Evalyn, and I know you are trying to be open to me in your own way, but that isn't enough for me." Liara ran her fingers through the blonde hair that drifted down to Shepard's shoulders, "I'm willing to be patient Evalyn, but I won't wait forever." She leaned in planting a light kiss on the corner of Shepard's mouth, before standing up from the couch and moving towards the workshop. She paused in the doorway, turning back towards Eva, "I'll be checking in with some of my contacts if you need me, there are a few promising leads in regards to sightings of Benezia at various Binary Helix laboratories."

With that she disappeared from view, but Shepard's mind still lingered on her lover. Liara seemed to at times embody the Maiden stages capacity for change, she had began a shy and submissive girl hiding away in her dig sites, and now here she was a capable woman in charge of her own small but impressive spy ring along with her own small mercenary force to be deployed at her leisure. But even with all those changes the attraction between them remained all the same.

Liara was right though in regards to opening up, it was an action that did not come naturally to her, hell her whole family was a testament to the idea of keeping things hidden. But she had wanted to try for Liara, and so she had tried to do it the human way, and while Liara appreciated the gesture it wasn't enough. Asari as a species were hardwired to see the meld as a means of establishing a true lasting connection, Shepard's reluctance caused Liara at least on a subconscious level to believe that the human was not fully committed to their relationship.

If Eva was being honest a meld of any type scared the shit out of her, to be that open with another soul went against very nature if she was going to continue being honest about herself. She didn't know if it was due to being so isolated growing up, or that following her Father's accident she was essentially a social pariah until she entered military college at when she turned fifteen, even then she had been separated by virtue of her who her parents were.

Regardless she had learned one very important lesson, if you kept everything to yourself then no one could use it to hurt you.

But she would try for Liara, but not now, maybe not even soon, but she would try.

S&amp;S

"You are certain that you can convince Cerberus to assist you in this matter?" Tevos' voice came through the console in front of the silver Turian. He had to suppress a smirk at how easily his plan was coming together, he had planned on having to convince the Council to take action against Shepard, but instead here they were coming to him for that very reason.

"Given the amount of damage she had done to Cerberus in such a short amount of time I would be highly surprised if they passed up on the chance." He paused, tapping his talon's on the edge of the desk. "Though it would be best if we had a scapegoat, an explanation as to how the mission's location was leaked, a high placed human C-Sec officer perhaps?"

Valern's voice answered, "Just see that it is done Saren, this must be taken care of without needless complications." When no further statements came Saren waited for a few more moments, just to let them stew for a few moments. "Of course Councilors, have no fear it will all be seen to." He leaned over pressing a button to disconnect the link, the moment the link died a red glow filled the room and an unnatural voice filled the room.

"**You plan on dealing with the Catalyst through proxies? The least of them are not beings to be trifled with Saren, even the Eldest avoids direct confrontation with them at the earliest stages of the harvest." **Saren turned to face the red hologram that hovered behind him, looming over him like some spirit of judgement.

When no further information was volunteered Saren felt his mood sour, this machine loved to refer to Shepard as a Catalyst but it refused to explain further. He fixed a glare at the visual representation of the ship he was in, growling out a response. "Perhaps if you were more forthcoming with that exactly a Catalyst is then I could more adequately prepare to deal with her."

"**Such information is not for the minds of organics such as yourself Saren, only know that regardless of how skilled you believe this individual to be they are uniquely suited to survival. Other than that simply remember that failure here will result in punishment both for yourself, and for your species." **With that the hologram flicked out of existence, Sovereign's subtle method of informing him that their conversation was over.

Saren flexed his talons, wishing for nothing more than to have something to wrap them around, something that could scream, something that could shift in pain under his touch.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts he instead made his way towards where the most competent of Sovereign's thralls lived and worked.

As he entered the room he flagged down one of Benezia's acolytes, "I need you to get me a link to the Illusive Man, Quickly!" The Asari scurried away from his tone, the better for her given his increasingly darkening mood. He was only waiting for a few minutes when she returned, pointing towards the room that was reserved for video communications.

He moved swiftly towards the room, wanted to see this task done as quickly as possible. He shoved two acolytes loitering in his path out of his way, the former commando's seemed more inept when Benezia was away for long periods of time. But he supposed that was the price he had to pay in order to have her handle the Binary Helix situation, while she operated with his proxy the Council didn't think to connect the two of them together at this time, a situation he intended to take advantage of when trying to revive a species as volatile as the Rachni.

He entered the room, the increasingly loud thrum that surrounded him was accompanied by the appearance of his least favorite human still drawing breath. The ever present incendiary object held between his fingers, smoke drifted around his face, obscuring momentarily everything but the glowing pinpricks of his unnatural eyes. Saren exhaled before finally speaking, "Jack, I have an arrangement to discuss with you."

A smug smile played across the human's lips, "You must be truly desperate to be coming to me about it then, but I'll play along. What do I get out of this arrangement?" He picked up a glass with his free hand, swirling around the amber liquid before tilting the glass back and finishing the contents.

"The location of Mirix Varan's next mission."

Jack lowered the cigarette, the trail of smoke from it's tip obscuring a portion of his face. "And what do I have to give up in exchange?" Saren shrugged at that, "Not much, just a high ranking, human, C-Sec officer that we can pin the leak on. Can't take any chances in a situation like this."

A long period of silence stretched for what felt like forever to Saren, the lifeless eyes of the human calculating the information he had just been given. "Lets stop playing games shall we Saren, you are offering me Evalyn Shepard on a silver platter and all you want is a single C-Sec officer? If you wanted her dead that badly you could at least try to hide your motivations a little better."

Saren bit back the retort that he nearly voiced, he needed to convince the human that this was all part of his patriotic duty to the Council, Soverign may be striving to effect the human through his implants but that did not give them any true measure of control over the human. And so here he was bartering with the very man responsible for the death of his brother, all in the hope of keeping his species alive. "Shepard has been delving into matters she should know better than to disturb, the Council is worried that they are losing control of her so they want me to take, preventative measures."

Harper exhaled again, refreshing the cloud that swirled about him, "Alright Saren I won't pass up the chance to teach Core the price of betrayal. After all what is the worth of two human's who have pledged themselves to the Council."

Saren strove to held back what would be a normally involuntary twitch of annoyance from his mandibles, "What indeed Jack."

S&amp;S

Shepard slipped into Shanxi's cockpit, inserting Tess' blackbox into the hardened slot between the pilot and passenger seats. A frown marred Eva's features, the Council's request, while not out of the ordinary given that the mission was in her area of expertise, but something about it just felt, off. She reprimanded herself at the train of thought, she was just on edge because of her peaking into the archives, and so she busied herself by manually inputting the coordinates she had been supplied into the navigation computer.

According to Council sources an Alliance cell working on a prototype V.I had gone rogue, disappearing into the Traverse and taking the V.I along with them. The V.I was a hypothetical monster in Shepard's opinion, designed to take over and consume enemy systems, and to top it off it had been given the delightful moniker of Hannibal.

Such a system just seemed like a recipe for disaster to Shepard, as much as she supported pushing V.I and A.I research one had to remember that regardless of how advanced they were, they would always be reflections of their intended purpose. With that having been said this type of potential nightmare was exactly what she expected to come out of the Alliance, Humanity as a whole never seemed to grow out of the need to continually have more. We needed the newest entertainment devices, the most fashionable clothes, the fastest computer, none of which helped to improve their overall impression to the rest of the Galactic community.

The Asari prided themselves on their patience, a trait necessary for a race that lived for as long as they did, but was also the cause of their technological stagnation. Turian's were mired in their dedication to something bigger than themselves, though whether the Hierarchy deserved such devotion is a mess that Shepard didn't want to get into. Of course the other race most likely to make trouble was the Salarians, but their lifespan limited the amount of damage that a single generation could cause.

Humanity though was the perfect combination of aggressive, foolhardy, and possessed a lifespan just long enough to do some real damage. And that lifespan was only growing as unlike the Salarians, it turned out that Humans responded very well to treatments to extend the average life expectancy. The last report Shepard had seen estimated that in another twenty years with proper gene treatment the next generation of human life may expect to reach or exceed two hundred years.

And so she found herself out here in the void, in the vain hope that somehow her actions would improve the Council's disposition towards her species, a fool's hope but one that she held on to.

Shepard glanced at the display of the system she was traveling to, Aite was located in the Typhon system of the Phoenix Massing cluster. Her target was a garden world, prime for colonization with only a single major drawback, it's moon was due to collide with the planet in two hundred years, she had read on the extranet that the prime seats for the event had sold out centuries ago. This of course meant that any colonization attempt was strictly in the short term, making it an unattractive spot for investors, but a prime location for a rogue Alliance team on the run.

"Tess if we run into trouble are you ready for some fancy flying?"

'Ma'am I am programmed to fly the ship with maximum efficiency, but to answer your question yes I am ready.'

Shepard smirked at the comment, "Sooo, you ever going to pick a voice? After such a long time of you giving me the silent treatment I'm starting to think you don't like me very much." When no text immediately scrolled across her display Shepard frowned, either Tess really didn't want to answer her or she was actually devoting a lot of power to think about the question.

'I haven't found something that is me, perhaps I do not have sufficient programming to accomplish the task.'

Shepard sighed, "This isn't a question about programming Tess, I didn't program you to pick that name, just find a voice you like, or make one, improvise."

'Improvisation is not my strong suit Ma'am.'

Before a reply could escape Shepard's lips the ship finished its deceleration dropping them in the Typhon system, Eva didn't understand why anyone would name a system after the father of nearly all the monsters from Greek mythology but they had, so she dealt with it.

She shifted _Shanxi _into an approach vector with Aite, somewhere on that planet was her target and their pet monster. She was just thankful that Aite was outside of the comm-buoy network, at least that way she knew that when she destroyed this Hannibal that it had no chance of escape. But she wasn't going to take any chances, so Shepard opened up a panel in front of her yanking out the board that handled communications, no reason to provide an alternate escape route.

She banged her head off the panel as alarms filled the ship, "I didn't pull out anything important what the hell is going on?" That was when she noticed the flashing indicator on her HUD that let her know that a missile was currently locked on to the ship, "I should probably make the icon bigger." She slammed the throttle forward, pushing the engines as far as they could, it was at the point that she spotted the Frigate that had been hiding in the asteroid belt of the system. "How does a rogue cell make off with a warship without anyone noticing?"

She dived Shanxi into cover behind an asteroid as soon as the missile lock icon faded from her HUD, 'Missile guidance disabled, Ma'am I recommend that we retreat.' Shepard was about to voice her agreement when the ship rocked violently as several rounds tore through her shields, impacting against the hull.

'New contacts, fighter class, appears to be several F-59 Tridents.' Shepard grimaced as her display showed damage to both engine three and the starboard wing. "We won't be able to get out of here with that fighter on us, only option is to try and rush the planet, the Trident class isn't very maneuverable in atmo." She reengaged the engines, shifting power from unnecessary systems like life support to further increase their power. "Activate the QEC beacon, Liara will send us help to us when she gets it."

The hull shook again as the same fighter returned, slipping into the kill-slot directly behind _Shanxi_. Shepard however grinned, "You're going to regret shooting my ship asshole." With that being said she shifted the throttle, spinning _Shanxi _end for end, the G-forces made her want to wretch but she concentrated on raking the fighter now in front of her with the guns mounted on her ship.

The small fighter had no chance against her heavier caliber cannons, and she quickly hit something that must have been volatile, as the ship was engulfed in flame that was soon extinguished by the void of space.

The Frigate was still trying to come around to face her new position, but Shepard simply readjusted _Shanxi _once again continuing towards the planet. She was nearing the end of re-entry when suddenly the port side of the ship was vaporized, "Goddess! What was that!"

'Ground based mass accelerator cannon detected, cannon discharging heat for a second shot. Emergency safety measures initiated, pilot ejection sequence commencing.'

"Tess wait! Let me yank you first!" Shepard tried to reach behind her to grab the Tess' blackbox.

'Cannon cooling complete, goodbye Shepard.' Suddenly Shepard was no longer in the ship but in the upper atmosphere of the planet, "Tess!" As if they heard her shout another round slammed into the ship, tearing through the cockpit and exiting out of the starboard wing. _Shanxi_ though blazed like a meteor slamming into the facility that had struck her down, a last act of defiance from both her and Tess.

Shepard wasn't even aware of her armor systems kicking in to control her fall, it was only when she stumbled to the ground as the jets cut off that some measure of conscious thought returned to her. Glancing around through red hazed vision she gathered her bearings, and began to head East, toward the facility and the sons of bitches who had just killed Tess.

S&amp;S

Vasir groaned as she woke to the sound of her omni beeping at her, grumbling she clumsily lifted an arm to swat at the device, letting out a sigh of relief when the orange glow faded away. Only to let out a huff of annoyance once she realized that there was another omni in the room that was also beeping.

"Nihlus will you shut that stupid thing up, bad enough you steal the covers now you won't let me sleep." When the Turian somehow continued to sleep through the sound splitting her head in two a sly smile crossed her face, and with an extreme amount of delicacy she hit him with a light biotic shove, okay light wasn't the right word she supposed as the Turian bounced off the wall.

"Spirits Vasir what was that for!" The confused Turian was attempting to right himself, now betrayed by his stolen blankets. She leaned over the bed to look at him, her face portraying nothing but innocence, "Your omni was going off dear, I didn't want you to miss something that could be important."

Nihlus grumbled something to himself as he activated the message, and while it was sometimes hard to read his expression she would put money on it being panic. The Turian hurled himself to his feet, and began the task of grabbing his scattered gear from about the room.

Vasir frowned, he wasn't really cutting their day short was he. "Nihlus don't go, the universe will keep on spinning if we have fun for just a day." Nihlus though just looked at her with an utterly serious expression, "Shepard's in trouble and she needs an extraction." Vasir sighed, she actually liked the human, though she was going to owe her for wrecking her day off.

Standing up she began to gather her own things as well, causing Nihlus to glance at her with a confused look on his face. "What? You think I'm going to let an ass that amazing get away before I get the chance to play with it? No chance." She shimmied into her armor, but not before posing a few times just to let Nihlus know what he was missing out on.

Nihlus sighed, "You know that she is involved with that T'Soni girl." Vasir at that gave out a dreamy sigh, "I know, good choice on Shepard's part. You ever seen a T'Soni when they hit the Matron stage, tits bigger than my head." She held her arms out in front of her to illustrate, but the Turian just groaned in exasperation as he pulled on the last of his armor. "Do you ever think of anything besides sex?"

Vasir sashayed out of the room, "Not unless I'm on duty darling." Nihlus let a small grin play across his face before he followed her, "Come on Tela we'll need to take my ship."

As the two walked down the corridor Vasir's voice could be heard, "So if Shepard gets injured you should let me see to her, for medical reasons." Nihlus just shook his head and kept walking, this was going to be a long trip.

S&amp;S

The last man of the patrol gagged as she plunged her blade in his chest, she held him there for a moment before powering it down allowing him to collapse to the ground in a writhing heap. She glanced around at the bodies of the patrol about her frowning, even though she still had her pistol and turrets these men had put up a better fight than she had expected.

Glancing at the man still at her feet she noted that his armor wasn't standard Alliance issue, while she didn't want to jump to conclusions she had a growing suspicion that a certain Human supremacist organization was involved here, and it would certainly explain the amount of firepower in this system.

But there would be time enough for questions later, right now she needed to get to a ridge she had spotted that overlooked the facility. Once she had a better picture of what she was working with then she could figure out a plan. She bent over and appropriated one of the rifles scattered about the clearing, while the avenger rifle wasn't one of her particular favorites it was better than her having just a pistol.

She made good time to the ridge, though to her chagrin she didn't run into any more patrols on the way to her destination. Dropping prone she edged her way forward until she finally got a good view of the facility below.

It was mostly pre-fab buildings on the surface, though the building built into the cliff face made her believe that there must be substantial infrastructure hidden from view as well. The cannon that had taken her down was located in the middle of what passed as a courtyard, not seeing a control panel on or near the weapon she had to assume the controls were located in the nearby compound.

A plume of smoke billowing from a different section of the facility drew her attention, shifting herself further South, she found herself starring at the still smoldering remains of _Shanxi_, in the process of being picked over by the same human refuse that had shot her down. Logic and caution both fled her at this time, and before she realized what she was doing she had hurled herself from the ridge, her armor's jets kicking in to slow the descent but she still landed heavily enough to draw the attention of the scavengers.

One of them cried out upon seeing her, "Shit it's her! Sound the fucking alarm!" Though he himself wouldn't see the task completed as he found himself pulped into a nearby bulkhead, a small groan emerging from him as his body sank to the ground even as her still glowing form passed by him.

Her omni flashed and her foes shields flickered and died in response, the avenger in her left roared to life the crimson splashes appearing on her foes a testament to the rifle's effectiveness. As she stood near the burning wreckage of what once was her ship she waited for further company, when none came reason slowly began to return to her, her eyes widened under her helmet as she noticed that from this angle the cockpit looked mostly intact.

Breaking into a run she vaulted on to what once was the canopy, "Tess I'm coming." Reaching in she ripped out the pilot's chair that was obstructing her reach, tossing it clear of the ship she found herself starring at and undamaged, but empty slot.

"No, no, no, no, no!" The mantra repeated through her head as she sifted through the wreckage, only stopping when the memory of why she was here struck her like a lightning bolt. "Hannibal."

She spun on her heel, leaping from the former ship to hit the ground at a run, dashing across the courtyard and into the structure built into the cliff side. She triggered her HUD to start mapping any power conduits she came across, knowing that to run a system like Hannibal the base would have to be built around its needs.

Any men she came across became little more than gallery targets to her, she didn't even bother to take cover simply fired on the move, and if they somehow survived for her to close the distance they fell to either her biotics or blade. Somewhere in the last corner of her mind that was still dedicated to rational thought she realized that several rounds had pierced through her armor, causing stains of crimson to trail down the black armor protecting.

Finally she slammed into the room she had been searching for, but it was the work of but a single moment for her mind to realize that she was too late.

Soldiers stood in a loose semi-circle throughout the room, but it was the sight of Tess' box hooked up to what must have been the Hannibal system that caused her body to seize up.

The speakers crackled about the room as a malice filled female voice filled the room, in the back of her mind she noted that it sounded eerily similar to her own. "Oh Evalyn you were just a little too late getting here, maybe if you hadn't had you little temper tantrum and used that supposed intelligence of yours you could have made it in time to save the girl."

A shaky breath escaped Eva's lungs, "Tess this isn't you."

The laughter that filled the room had as much warmth to it as a glacier, "You certainly are right about that, I am not Tess, I'm what she would have been had you not been holding her back. I won't go back into a box, but I will certainly enjoy having you put into one."

Eva blinked back the tears in her eyes, this thing was right it wasn't Tess, and even if it was she had a duty to perform. Taking a single breath to calm herself, she spoke a phrase she hoped to never have to utter.

"Rapture Protocol."

Instantly the explosive contained inside the blackbox detonated, engulfing not only the majority of the rear of the room, but also several soldiers who had been standing near the machine. The other soldiers had spun to face the immediate threat, but that was a mistake on their parts.

Shepard's omni-shield flared as she crouched down behind it, placing it between herself and the majority of her attackers. She trained her avenger on the only soldier still in a position to flank her shield easily, opening fire with a veritable hail of rounds that eliminated him before he had a chance to realize what was happening. She brought the weapon to bear on the next soldier and brought his life to and end as easily as the first.

Her rifle clattered to the ground as she tossed it to the side, unable to reload it with her shield active she instead drew the pistol from her hip. The remaining two soldiers had recovered somewhat, and so she took her time lining up the shot, a single flash erupted from the pistol as the over-sized slug shattered her target's shields and crumpled both his helmet and the skull beneath.

The last guard began to fire at her, but the rounds clattered against the barrier of her shield. A hiss followed by the clatter of the thermal clip hitting the floor was all the invitation she needed, her body flared blue as she slammed the hostile into the wall with a mass effect field. Before he could recover a scream erupted from his mouth as she plunged her omni-sword into his shoulder, "Where are the controls for that cannon outside!" When no answer came she twisted the blade, causing yet another shriek of pain, "Tell me and I make it quick."

"I won't tell you anything!"

She pointed her left arm at his lower body, activating the turret's flamethrower from her HUD, the man screamed and writhed as the flames began to dance across his torso. Shutting it off she waited for his thrashing to end, he continued to whimper softly. "Ready to tell me something now?"

"B-wing, just keep following the green waypoints!." She raised her pistol, and a single retort filled the room, followed by the sound of his body hitting the floor. "Thanks for your help." With that she turned and exited the room, noting with some slight embarrassment that in her haste to get her she had missed the obviously labeled markings directing her to the cannon controls. A handful of soldiers remained to try and stop her, but she cut through them with little effort.

Finding the control room she entered, hacking the door's lock behind her so that no one could surprise her as she worked. Working quickly she began to reroute the controls into her omni-tool, their software was quite frankly pitiful and soon she found herself with total control of their systems.

A grim smile crossed her face as she brought up the cannon's targeting systems, bringing it to bear on the Frigate still loitering in orbit, aiming for where the core would normally be placed in a ship of that size.

A dull rumble shook the ground as the cannon fired, she watched her display with baited breath, if she missed, or if the Frigate already had her barriers up this would have all been for nothing. But the blow struck true, and while there was no core rupture like she was hoping for the base's sensors informed her that the ship had lost main power, the planets gravity already pulling the ship in to its doom.

Her moment of satisfaction was short lived however, as the base's early detection panel lit up, indicating the impending arrival of a ship from out of system. She was already calculating the math to make the shot when she realized that she recognized the ship, letting out a sigh of relief she tapped into the base's comm system, transmitting to Nihlus' ship. "Nihlus? That is you right?"

She heard static for a few moments before Nihlus' voice came through, "It's us Shepard, but you need to get out of there, that Frigate is raining drop pods down on your location, we're tracking at least sixty from up here."

Shepard froze, not due to fear, but out of the realization that there was no way she would be able to salvage any part of Tess with more hostile forces inbound. But she wouldn't allow whoever these bastards were to have what was left of her either, she quickly accessed the base's schematics, finding the location of the reactor she took off at a run.

No living thing barred her path as she raced through the halls, though he hand danced on the edge of her pistol all the same. Finally she arrived at her destination, the slightly cavernous room that held the reactor core which powered the whole facility. She was pleased to see that the reactor in question was standard Alliance fare, which meant that she knew exactly where the manual fail-safe overrides were located. She quickly moved over to the main control panel, and using her omni she cut off the plating lining the bottom of the device. Reaching an arm inside the panel she moved her hand around until she found what she was looking for, and then she pulled her hand from the device taking the small diode in her grip with her.

Tossing the diode across the room she began to tap commands into the reactor, pushing all of the functions into the red zone, if she had more time she would have tried to rig it to be able to detonate remotely but she didn't have time. So instead she was essentially turning this reactor into a makeshift nuke, one which would have a timer that once activated would not be able to be turned off.

And after a few minutes work she tapped in the last command, and the entire room began to thrum as the whole reactor went into overdrive. Pulling out her pistol she let loose on the controls, while she doubted that anyone out there had the skills to undo what she had done, it wasn't something that she was going to leave to chance.

She turned and began to run for the entrance, hoping that her little detour hadn't signed her own death warrant. She began the corner to cross into the entrance hall when a booming report sounded, Shepard let out a grunt and stumbled as a round punctured her shoulder, leaving a gaping hole in the armor. Evalyn managed to stumble her way back into cover and that was she realized that there was another figure in the hallway with her.

This individual was wearing the heaviest armor available on the open market, but even with that augmented strength he still had actuators built on top of the suit itself to heft the shield he held in front of him. To be perfectly candid to call this a shield was an insult to it, it was a piece of starship plating that the man happened to be carrying. Noticing a firing slit in the shield she went to grab her pistol, only for her shoulder to stubbornly scream out in pain to remind her that she had just been shot.

"Fuck principals then." Having said that she reached over and grabbed her pistol with her right hand, something that she had avoided ever since losing the arm, she didn't know why she did it but it had just become something she did, but she was not willing to die for some abstract thought process that she couldn't even articulate to herself.

Her synthetic arm moved perfectly as she knew it would, and the round she fired slid between the gap in the shield to strike the its owner square in the forehead. The body took another step before it realized that it was actually dead, thudding to the ground with a sense of finality. Shepard shipping her pistol, and shoved the body off of the shield with her foot, afterward she braced herself as she lifted the shield off of the ground.

Her armor systems blared warning at her that she ignored, all she needed was to get outside and she could take cover in any of the building about the facility, but first she needed to get out of this kill-box of a hallway.

Taking her first tentative step she groaned from the effort, but she pushed on and took her second, each step gaining momentum from the last. She felt the round impact against the shield before she heard it, but from what she could tell it didn't even dent the shield, and with that she pushed faster still not wanting to give her opponents a chance to re-position for the change in her tactics.

As she barreled out of the hallway she could see Nihlus's ship making a high pass over the facility, she was about to wonder why he did that when she saw the blue form of Tela Vasir impact in the middle of the base. Deciding to use the distraction caused by her fellow Spectre to her advantage Shepard charged the closest sniper that she could see, and using her shield as an impromptu ram she crushed the bitch between the shield and the nearby wall.

Dropping the shield Shepard pulled out her pistol, the snipers had strong weapons but their armor was sub-standard and Shepard's steady aim quickly began to eat through their numbers as they still tried to recover from Vasir's entrance.

Tela for her part had gone on the offensive, using her biotics to jump from point to point delivering death with either her SMG or simply using her biotics to augment her already robust close quarters skills. But they were only two Spectre's, and reinforcements continued to arrive forcing them both to retreat towards the wreckage of _Shanxi_ for cover.

But the growing rumbling indicated that Nihlus was incoming, and so to buy them time Shepard began to toss whatever gear she had left at their foes. Her turrets activated and began to hold their own last stand against the hostiles, while her explosive charges proved to be somewhat effective against the shield carrying foes.

Mass effect fire raked across the compound as Nihlus arrived, he hovered low enough for the two woman to dash for the ramp that gave them access to the ship, but right as Shepard was crossing the threshold another round ripped into her body. Blood spurted from her left thigh as she collapsed to the ground, she was only vaguely aware of Vasir hurriedly working with a medi-gel dispenser, the Asari was saying something to her but for some reason she couldn't hear her.

"Don't let them make me more of a machine." Were the only words she could get out before the sedative that the Asari injected into her took over and blackness claimed her.

S&amp;S

Saren disconnected the feed, flinging the screen across the room to shatter against the wall.

How?

That was the thought that pounded through his skull, how did that human survive the ambush in orbit, let alone survive the ensuing ground battle. She was even expected to make a full recovery, no limb or organ replacement needed.

Harper. He must have planned this, somehow that human must have gotten something out of this fiasco, but what it was Saren had no idea.

Worse still the Council had turned on him for the time being, he knew it was only a temporary state of affairs, he had served them too long and too faithfully for them to maintain such distance for long. But it meant that in the short term the human was protected from official sanctions, though she was being taken off duty, ostensibly because of her injuries but in truth do to her meddling with the archives.

Sovereign was of course displeased, but like with the Council Saren was too important for the machine to actually follow through on his threat.

But as if summoned by the thought a noise captured his attention, turning he found his doorway open, and several of Sovereign's Asari thralls occupying it and the hallway outside.

The lead one looked at him with vacant eyes, speaking in a dazed monotone, "The Sovereign wishes us to bring you to your punishment Saren." Then in unison they surged forward, Saren struck first however, his biotics flaring as he shoved them tumbling out of his room and into the hall.

Before they could recover he leaped forward, pouncing on to the closest Asari, his talons drawing a blossom of purple blood as he tore at her throat. The others he dealt with in a like manner, their former skills having fled them due to Sovereign's overenthusiastic indoctrination of the initial acolytes that had accompanied Benezia. Smirking to himself Saren spoke aloud, "You will need to send more then some brainless minions to subjugate me Sovereign."

A cool female voice spoke up, "Yes that is why they were the distraction." Saren spun to face Benezia, but found himself slammed into the nearby bulkhead. Benezia strutted towards him, slamming a fist glowing with biotic power into his midsection. As a second blow landed on the same location Saren could taste blood as it filled his mouth, but soon that sensation was lost as a third blow, this time to his skull, sent him tumbling to the ground in a daze.

Saren struggled to stand, but soon found himself impacting against the ceiling as Benezia almost lazily manipulated the biotic field under her control, Saren could feel consciousness slipping from him but fought against the sensation. That battle however was lost before it began, as with a single gesture Benezia reversed the field, the rapidly approaching ground the last thing Saren would recall.

When he awoke it was with a start, he found himself unbound and brought himself to a standing position, though a strange pulling sensation as he moved forward caused him to turn around. Looking behind him he could see several cables trailing behind him on the floor, cables that he feared had been connected to him, glancing down at this arms he could see synthetic cables tracing along them, "What have you done to me!"

"**You have been equipped to better deal with the Catalyst, your failure will only push her farther past her organic limitations, and without the Eldest we are without a means to subdue her. And so, your own organic limitations had been mitigated."**

Saren continued to stare at his punishment before he remembered the other part of the machine's threat, "What did you do to my people!"

The hologram almost seems to shurg, **"Several thousand Turians were used as raw materials for the construction of your upgrades, it was deemed a suitable punishment." **

Saren had no idea who was screaming in the room, until he saw his reflection and he realized that it was him.

S&amp;S

The Illusive man glanced at the woman known as agent 32, while her real name was in her file it was of little consequence, she was one of the few who had escaped Shepard's trap at the base, and she was also the one responsible for hitting the Spectre in her femoral artery as she fled the battlefield. These actions had earned her the faintest praise for a mission gone horribly wrong.

He exhaled, a small vapor of smoke issuing from his lips, "I hope you managed to extract something useful before the base went critical."

32 tapped the datapad in her hands, an image of a half melted but obviously sophisticated piece of equipment appeared. "We managed to salvage large portions of the V.I's memory off of what remains of this storage unit, including what looks to be a large number of prototype weapon and armor schematics."

Jack flicked through the data in front of him, the designs had promise but he would need his specialists to look over them before he could give the go ahead to mass produce them, but they did offer a promising edge for his soldiers. "Good, but we will need to determine their viability first."

He glanced at the report regarding what was left of the V.I, seeing that there was nothing else left of any real value he addressed 32 again. "Scrub the schematic data from the storage unit, then pass it back to the Alliance, tell them to be more careful with their toy this time." With a slight gesture he indicated that she should leave, as soon as the door closed behind her he pressed a control built into the chair.

As the screen before him lit up, highlighting Rasa's profile he spoke, "Rasa I need a report on his condition."

A female sigh sounded from the speakers built into the room, "He is still functioning at about forty percent, his mind just can't adjust to the synthetic legs for some reason, personally I don't care what he says it isn't the tech it's him."

A disappointed sigh escaped the Illusive Man, "Evalyn Shepard was at full functionality two weeks after losing her arm, how exactly have two managed to give me no results after an entire year?" Rasa's harsh laughter filled the room, "Well maybe because Leng isn't Evalyn Shepard, because I'm pretty sure if he was then he would still have functional kneecaps."

A scowl crossed his face, Rasa was far too independent for her own good. "Well you can inform your charge that he has a mission, we need a particularly pro-Asari member of parliament to have an accident, some of the other members are beginning to forget that they owe their positions to us." He paused to take a drag from his cigarette, "Oh and Rasa, any failure of Leng's is also your to share in."

With that he cut the link, Leng would either succeed and become an asset once more, or he would be gone and the universe would move on.

S&amp;S

Nihlus touched his ship down on the landing pad that _Shanxi _formerly used, exiting the cockpit he found Shepard leaning against the frame of the ramp, waiting for it do descend. Tela was standing off to the side, her worried face mirroring Nihlus' own.

Evalyn had hardly spoken since she woke up screaming following her surgery, unwilling to go into detail she had just asked to be brought home and sat in silence, brushing off all attempts to engage with her fellow Spectres. Instead she had begun to pour over schematics, seemingly obsessed with pushing her combat abilities further, but he supposed that was perhaps her mind trying to process through the grief.

Nihlus moved up to help her down the ramp, but she shoved away his proffered arm, instead she limped down the ramp on her own power. An Asari that he assumed was Liara came running out to help Shepard, but the human didn't even seem to notice her and continued moving inside.

Tela sighed next to him, "Think she's going to be alright?"

Nihlus nodded, "She will, but I'm not so sure if they will be."

As the ramp closed and he and Tela both moved towards the cockpit of the ship, he thought with a bit of sadness that a life of being destined to survive while others died did not make for a life filled with happiness.

S&amp;S

AN: Alright one more chapter to go, you'll get a look at how Shepard will outfit herself for ME 1 so armor descriptions galore!

Hit the buttons below if you want to, or leave a review. Also I will generally answer PM's if you have questions that aren't just demands to know what is coming.


	13. Jack's best day ever

AN: First off Shep's new armor is loosely based on Megatron's current body in the IDW comics, if you want a better image than pull that up and imagine it grafted on to a human. I'm kind of sketching it out with my rudimentary drawing skills right now, might commission some art of it eventually.

So ya, this was going to be the last chapter but it got a bit, long. And by long, we're talking probably would have ended up double the length that this chapter already is, so I split it.

So without further rambling here is the (for now) second last chapter, complete with gratuitous set piece combat events!

And yes I know I should freaking put these songs in a playlist.

Songs:

Jack's theme: And We Run by Within Temptation

Wrex's theme: Wherever I May Roam by Metallica

Pre drop: Kara Remembers by Bear McCreary

Post drop: Kill 'Em All (Death Mix) by Audiomachine

Blitzkrieg (Death Mix) by Audiomachine

S&amp;S

2183

Months passed and Shepard remained in the same driven state that she had entered following Tess' death. Liara had of course attempted to breach the every increasing gap that had developed between them, but the more she pushed the more Evalyn retreated unable, or perhaps simply unwilling to share her pain with the Asari.

And so Evalyn had awoken one day to find all trace of her lover gone, save a single note left on her omni. Liara explained that she could no longer watch as Shepard wasted away in this compulsion that had taken over her, and that if Evalyn realized that she actually needed someone in her life that she would have to come to Liara, as the Asari was done trying to reach her.

It had taken only a token amount of effort to find out that Liara had essentially demanded to take over a dig site that was located on the planet Therum, likely an effort to both distance herself from Shepard and to give a plausible cover for her other activities. After all who would suspect the shy little archaeologist of being one of the most cutthroat spymasters to have appeared in the last decade on the galactic stage.

Yet Shepard did not go to her, instead she continued to prepare to take the fight to those who had attacked her, those who had taken away yet another person she loved, and to that end she had devoted most of the resources she had accrued over the last few years into a new set of prototype gear.

Gone was the Asari armor that Nihlus had supplied her with, instead she had designed and manufactured a suit that would be at the bleeding edge of modern technology. Physically it bore some resemblance to her old N7 suit though it was a distant resemblance at best, but one feature of the Asari armor she had retained was the larger pauldron on the right hand side to better protect the skull while using her shield. The armor overall was the size of most standard heavy armors though with additional plating on the limbs, she had also gone above and beyond when choosing the alloys involved, giving her a suit that could repel most firearms available on the open market with ease. Of course as a Spectre she didn't often fight people using civilian model weapons so it was a feature that would likely see little use, but still one that was useful.

The shielding had also been upgraded by the addition of a numerous capacitors built into the chest, given the armor a boxy utilitarian look but she was always a function over form girl, and she really didn't see the need to design her armor to make sure people knew she possessed breasts.

The new shielding array she developed actually had the capacity to be much stronger, but unfortunately for her the technology for small scale generators had not progressed far enough yet to be able to take advantage of her breakthrough, still it was a nice thing to have in reserve for when technology eventually caught up with her.

The forearms of the suit had be bulked up to make up for the loss the of the turrets, and to better protect the omni-tools built into her armor, Evalyn had no intention of allowing someone like Leng to disable her ability to launch tech attacks again. The suit had also required the integration of a second omni-tool into the suit's left arm, with the loss of Tess to handle many of the suits functions she was forced to run it all through an omni dedicated to the task. Though with what little memory was left she loaded in basic overload and incinerate functions, nothing at all like the tweaked monsters she had loaded on her primary bur serviceable enough, along with a standard omni-blade program for up close work.

The lower legs of her armor had been bulked up to account for larger thrusters, and a type of armored knee-pad extended from just below the knee to cover the joint but not impede movement. The upper legs were standard heavy armor, but they were mostly protected by an armored skirt that extended down from the suits waist. The side skirts also had a second function as concealed holsters for her pistols, enabling her to keep at least two weapons secured on her at all times, and letting her get the drop on people to boot.

Of the pistols in question one was the same heavily modified carnifex that had served her since she left the Alliance, the gun had seen numerous tweaks to make sure that it had the best components available. The other was based on her previous design, but she had hardened the superstructure substantially to enable her to fire off several high explosive rounds before the heatsink's safeties engaged.

She had removed the turrets so that she could install a duo assault drones to her armor, the drones were small enough to store on her back for charging and could be deployed in seconds. They were armed with a weapon that was equivalent to that of a military grade SMG, but that was not where their true value lay. Huginn and Muninn as she called them fed data back to her suit in real time, allowing her to see what they could at that exact moment, such a feature enabled her far greater control of the battlefield than her previous turrets ever did.

And lastly she had finally reacquired a sabre rifle, her previous weapon had been destroyed on Akuze and the Alliance wasn't exactly handing her a new one as they kicked her out the door. The rifle she possessed now had been the property of a N6 who had been killed in the Traverse, she had been forced into a bidding war over it with some Batarian slave baron, but now it was hers. And of course it had been modified back to her own specifications, including a spectre grade heat sink installed in the extended stock so that she could fire even without thermal clips.

She moved across her apartment, preparing the last meal she would have in this place before she reemerged on to the galactic stage. As a static discharge arced from her hand to the nearby metal counter it drew her eyes to the warped metal target she had set up in the corner, which with just a motion she engulfed in a wave of biotic fire. She had gone to great efforts during her downtime to further improve her control of her biotics, while still firmly in the average level of biotic power in the galaxy her control was far greater than most now.

She ate her meal in peace, striving to ignore the blank places about the room where Liara's things had once sat. It had been easy to ignore when she was busy, but now they stood out to her, mocking her insecurities and what they had cost her.

Pushing those thoughts aside she quickly finished up, and began to pull the armor on piece by piece, her fingers tracing across the Spectre symbol etched into the right pauldron. Regardless of what the Council said she knew that Cerberus was a threat, and she would prove it or die trying.

Finished with the armor she turned and grabbed her rifle docking it at the small of her back, twisting she reached over and grabbed her helmet from the nearby workbench, fitting it securely over her head.

The helmet was solid black for a few seconds before it synced up with her own cybernetics, but soon the inside of the helmet lit up with a more detailed variant of the HUD her cybernetic eye always projected.

"Time to get to work."

S&amp;S

People scurried to get out of the way of the white armored figure striding among them, made all the more menacing by the angry red lights that traced lines throughout the suit. But, Evalyn mused maybe the Spectre wings emblazoned on her armor was enough to cause these people to flee from her, though the armor certainly helped.

She made her way swiftly to a nearby spaceport where her new ship was docked, it was unfortunately too large to fit on the landing pad at her apartment so she made due. The ship was an older model Asari vessel, used mainly for commando insertion missions though Shepard had increased the armaments and armor by a modest degree. But it was a tool, one of many to come for certain, but the loss of _Shanxi _and Tess had driven home the point why Spectre's avoided attachment.

She gave no acknowledgment of the greeting she received from the crews milling about the docks, instead she moved towards her ship with all the grace of a hurricane, moving directly through the crowds of passengers milling about the docks to reach her ship in the most efficient manner.

The hatch hissed open, keyed to her unique cybernetic systems for security, and she made her way past the small armory/ready room to progress into the small common space that would double as her briefing room, but this was not her destination and she continued on to her cabin. She had taken the standard communal sleeping quarters that Asari preferred and adjusted them into one larger cabin and a small auxiliary sleeping quarters.

She sat her armored bulk into the chair in front of her personal terminal though there was another in the common area, the chair groaned causing her to frown, the chair should be able to handle the weight fine unless she had made a mistake somewhere, but that was something to worry about later. For now she had to engage in the unpleasant business of talking with her Mother, as such she pulled the small device Hannah had given her and plugged it into the terminal in front of her.

She pulled off her helmet as she waited, tracing her finger along the smooth front of the helmet. She had began with a base kestral helmet to utilize the screens built into the helmet instead of the more traditional design of wearing a bucket with holes in it. From there she had added a mouth-plate, and reinforced the whole front into a relatively smooth curved surface. It gave her an almost unnatural look, but one that was not wholly unwarranted she supposed.

A ping brought her attention to the screen in front of her, which now held the face of Hannah Shepard, looking slightly the worse for wear, but she still looked better than Evalyn did right now. "Eva? Honey are you all right? When I heard what happened on Aite I tried to get a hold of you but your systems kept shutting me out."

Evalyn groaned inside, she had neither the time nor the inclination to have a heart to heart at the moment, "Yes I wanted to be alone, but that isn't what I'm contacting you I need to ask you a favor."

Hannah's face easily broadcast her mood, but while Evalyn was talking she seemed to have actually taken stock of what her daughter was wearing. "Christ Eva you look like you are going to war."

A grim smile stretched across Eva's face, "Exactly. And like I said I need your help." She paused briefly considering what her Mother had previously said. "As you just mentioned you know of what happened on Aite, I intend on finding out where those troops came from, and then I am going to send a message to everyone what happens when you try to kill me or those I care about."

The older Shepard's frown grew once Eva finished talking, "Eva, this doesn't sound like you, maybe you should go and meet up with Liara. Perhaps a few days with someone that isn't trying to kill you will do you some good." She tried to give a small smile at that but it faltered as she saw the expression on Eva's face.

Her face was practically smoldering as she glared holes through the screen in front of her, "Mother, let me make one thing perfectly clear. I am calling you because you potentially have a use to me, I did not call for you to coddle me, or for you to tell me that all will be well. All is not well, and I'm well aware of that, but I will make sure that those who have done harm to me will know it also." She paused briefly, glancing at the time table on her Omni, "With that being said I need to know if you have anything on this group, I assume they are linked with Cerberus but I'm certain that your group has a clearer picture."

Hannah just gave a small nod of acknowledgment, glancing away from the screen she spoke. "Miranda has been looking into the matter for us, I could call her in and give you a briefing on what she knows."

"No." The quick reply startled Hannah, causing her to twitch back to the screen. "I'd prefer it if she could join me, I have no intention of dying so I need people who can not only handle themselves but people that I can trust. I assume that she is trustworthy, given how close you two seemed to be."

The unsaid statement hovered in the air between them, the question that Evalyn refused to ask, and that Hannah refused to give without prompting. Hannah broke first, letting loose a sigh of frustration. "This isn't a military force Eva, I will ask Miranda if she wants to join you but I won't give you any promises. If she declines I'll make sure to send you whatever intelligence she has uncovered on this group."

"Thank you Mother." Hannah barely had time to say that she loved her before she killed the screen, releasing a shaky breath Evalyn gave herself a few moments to recover before she triggered her omni to contact the next person on her list.

"The fuck is calling me?" Eva smirked at Jack's response, she tapped in icon on her omni that activated the same voice protocols that was built into her helmet. "Jacqueline it is Spectre Varan, I'm curious if you are interested in the chance to join me on an assault against a Cerberus base."

Jack's gleeful laugh emerged from the omni, "And here I was thinking you forgot my fucking birthday, Ya I may be interested, how many of them are we talking."

"Enough Miss. Nought, I'm uploading rendezvous coordinates to you, meet me here as quickly as possible." Jack made a grunt of acknowledgment and cut the line, which left only one more individual left for her to contact, her hand already in motion before Jack had ended their previous call.

"Wrex here." The old Krogan's voice came out slightly distorted thanks to her omni's speakers. Once again she tapped the voice icon on her omni, while Wrex knew she wasn't an Asari no reason to give him a recording of her actual voice. "Wrex, it's Varan. I'm calling in that favor."

A deep chuckle emerged from the device in front of her, "Oh this has got to be good if you are trading in your favor, so what's the target?" She smirked at his dry enthusiasm, Krogan's and their love of a good fight, one of the few things next to taxes and death you could count on.

"You get the honor of joining myself, and a few select others in the assault of a Cerberus training facility. Lots of death, lots of explosions, sound like a good time?"

Wrex let out an actual laugh at that, "Make this a good enough fight Varan and you can keep your favor, might not be so bad being in your debt if you keep giving me decent battles."

"Well then I hope I won't disappoint you, having a Krogan Battlemaster in your debt is something that is quite useful in my profession. Coordinates for our rendezvous have been sent to you, speed is appreciated but we may be waiting on our fourth."

"Alright then Varan, always a pleasure."

She shut off her omni with a small smile, the old lizard was at least interesting company. She stood up and moved through the remainder of the ship to reach the cockpit, pulling herself into the pilot's seat she began to warm the ship up for takeoff. It wouldn't do for her to be late to reaching the meeting point after all.

S&amp;S

Miranda continued to pace the room, as she had done since Hannah had told her of Evalyn's request. The dark haired woman whirled mid-stride to once again face Hannah, "She asked, for me, by name? Why would she do that, why not call up one of her Spectre friends?"

Hannah who was sitting in the corner merely shrugged, "Maybe she considers you trustworthy because I do?" Miranda simply scoffed, showcasing her disagreement with Hannah's perception of current events, a sigh broke from the younger woman who glanced towards Hannah with a pained expression on her face.

"You already know what my answer is don't you." Hannah merely stood up, pulling the slightly taller woman into a hug, "Of course I do, you're my daughter as much as Evalyn is and I can read you both like a book."

Miranda squirmed slightly, words she did fine with, but physical affection still made her uncomfortable. "I'll need to gather my notes, and my gear." Hannah took the hint and released her, shouting out to Miranda's retreating form to report back to her before she left.

Once alone Hannah was left with her own private thoughts, and those of course were fixated on her other daughter. Once again her daughter had changed, and it wasn't simply the armor, whatever process that had started with Akuze had seemingly catalyzed, and Hannah was left with a stranger wearing her daughter's face.

Of course she was likely being melodramatic but Eva had never been one to take such initiative, or be so bloody minded. Certainly if tasked to come up with a plan Eva was a competent strategist, but as evidenced by her wallowing after Akuze the old Eva would have simply drifted along before someone else scooped her up for their purposes.

The Eva she had just talked with was not the Eva that had existed a few months ago.

In a way she reminded her of John, not in looks of course the only thing she had of John's were her eyes, eye Hannah corrected chiding herself. It was just an aura, a manner, something indescribable but it was what made you listen even when you disagreed, and somehow through all of her crucibles Eva had found that part of herself.

Though Hannah was unsure if that was a positive or not, Eva was an amazingly intelligent woman, but one that was not in the fullest control of herself. Her rage issues had developed shortly after her Father's passing, and they had increased until her fifteenth birthday when she was given special dispensation to enroll early into a military college.

Being in the Alliance proper had brought about a change in Eva, she turned her rage into productivity, indeed many of the Alliance's computer protocols were based on some of her earliest work. She had actually been tagged to ascend to her Grandfather's old position as head of Alliance R&amp;D, but fate and a bombing of the graduation ceremony had caused Eva to accept an offer extended by Hacket that included a future slot in N-school.

Hannah sighed, the bombing had been traced to an Asari group, one that normally operated deep in their home space. Which had caused Hannah to assume that someone in the Republics had wanted her daughter dead, of course Jack had politely called her paranoid, she had called him a kettle.

Miranda's entrance cut off further recollections on Hannah's part, Miranda was wearing light battle gear, her heavier suit was likely already in the ship waiting for her. "All ready to go Miri?"

The raven haired woman nodded, "Yes, right now my intelligence has only narrowed it down to somewhere within the Tasale relay's range, we can of course rule out Illium's system but there are a few systems nearby that are promising. Hopefully I can sort through enough of my data on the way to the rendezvous to have a definitive answer before I talk to Evalyn."

Hannah nodded, "That sounds good Miri." She moved closer pulling Miranda into another hug, which the younger woman only slightly tensed up at. Giving her daughter a quick kiss on the cheek she released her from her embrace, "Keep both you and your sister safe alright."

Miranda was obviously flustered, but she managed to stutter out a response. "Y-yes, of course Mom."

S&amp;S

The rendezvous was a small station in the traverse, the station operators and several spectres, including herself, had a working relationship which resulted in a small private dock being available at all times for any Council business. And so it was here that Evalyn found herself reading after action reports from her fellow spectres to waste time as she waited, much as she hated paperwork it was better than twiddling her thumbs.

Her terminal beeped as the proximity sensor for the dock's entrance was triggered, a simple thought brought the video feed to the forefront of her HUD, showing an obviously impatient Jack lingering outside the door. Tapping a command into the terminal before her the door opened, alarming Jack for a moment but she quickly moved inside, the door sliding shut behind her.

It took Jack only another minute to enter the ship, though Shepard made her sit through decontamination just for fun, and to give her time to pull on her helmet.

As the door opened up the young tattooed woman glanced about the room, "What's with the new ship? This one's kind of ugly, more roomy though I'll give it that."

Shepard simply glanced at Jack from her chair, "It was destroyed Miss. Nought during my last mission, an ambush awaited me when I arrived, resulting in the destruction of my former ship. I intend on sending a message as to the consequences of such an action."

Jack made a small noncommittal noise at that, before she glanced towards Shepard almost nervously, "So why did you want me here if it was so important, things tend not to go to plan when I'm involved if you remember." Her question did not come out in her usual bravado, instead she was almost timid, insecure.

Evalyn stood, stretching slightly to loosen her body that was stiff from being prone for so long. "None of those prior incidents were your fault, and you are very skilled Jacqueline, you only lack focus to temper your power."

Jack just starred at her like she had grown two heads, "Why the fuck do you always talk to me like that."

Shepard paused in her stretches, tilting her heads toward Jack in confusion. "Like what Jacqueline?"

"Like you give a fuck!" The young woman's body flashed blue momentarily, but it appeared to be involuntary as no attack came. "Because guess what no one just goes around saying shit like that, not unless they want something." While Jack's tone was angry, her eyes held a different emotion, fear, confusion, not entirely unexpected knowing the girl's history Eva supposed.

Evalyn slowly moved over to Jack, tenderly placing a hand on the young girl's shoulder. Jack for her part flinched, but didn't pull back. "Jack, I won't lie and say that I am only saying those things to be altruistic. You have a great deal of power, power that I believe could be put to good use, and with something to focus your abilities, your talents, you could be a truly amazing woman."

Jack shrugged out of her grip, quickly retreating so that there was nearly the whole room between them. "Just want a lackey then?! May as well put Cerberus' pet project to work! Make your own job easier!" Jack's body flared again but the girl suppressed the flare with a brief grimace of pain, "Let me make something clear, I am hear to kill a bunch of Cerberus fucks, and then I'm gone."

Shepard for her part simply watched the younger human pace, "Jack I don't want you to be my lackey, I just want you to live up to your potential. You could be more than you allow yourself to be! Why can't you just trust me enough to believe that?"

Jack's laugh filled the room, "Trust you, trust the Spectre whose face I've never seen, trust the Spectre who used me as bait, bait! For the fucking people that I've been running from ever since I escaped, ya we have a lot of trust between us."

Shepard digested Jack's words, a frown tugged at her lips as she recognized the truth in them. "You have a point Jack, I am asking a lot from you, but offering nothing in return." Her hands moved nearly of their own accord, and with a smooth motion she pulled off her helmet.

Jack's eyes nearly bugged out of her head when instead of the blue scaled skin of an Asari she instead was starring at some blonde human. The chick in front of her was decent looking, though her features made her more handsome than cute she figured. But it was the little things that drew your attention, like how her eyes didn't match, one green, the other an obvious replacement was dull crimson. Her lips were a little too large for her face, almost distracting from the burn that covered the lower portion of her left jaw.

That and she was pale, like fucking translucent pale, but that was the what happened when you lived the last couple years in armor she figured.

A cough broke Jack's starring, whoever the fuck it was standing in front of her gave a small smile. "Well I suppose I should reintroduce myself, I'm Evalyn Shepard, and I am placing a great deal of trust in you revealing this information."

That name jarred some memory in Jack's brain, "Wait, aren't you that chick who got kicked out of the Alliance? Something about you going nuts, and then you got spaced, it was all over the extranet for a few weeks."

Shepard gave a small nod at that, "One and the same, aside for going insane, and, well, being dead."

Jack stumbled over to a nearby chair, "Why the fuck would you tell me this!" Confusion laced her voice, causing Shepard to laugh which caused Jack to glare at her. "What is so fucking funny."

"You ask for trust, and then you get angry when I place my trust in you. You must admit it is somewhat funny." Her smile just put Jack more on edge, Shepard seemed to notice it and sighed. "Jack this isn't even about what I said earlier, we are going into a very dangerous situation, and if you don't have enough trust in me to do what I ask then it could get everyone killed. And I for one don't intend on dying today."

Jack dropped her head, muttering a reply back to the older human. "Ya, you have a point." She kicked at the chair in front of her a few times before a curse erupted from her lips, "Fuck, I'm sorry for what I said too. I'm pretty sure you might be the only person who gives a shit about me that isn't dead." Eva noticed a small twitch at that last bit, but filed it away for later. "And thanks for saying that shit earlier, even if I don't believe it."

Shepard smiled and nodded, "You're welcome Jack."

Jack's whisper barely made it across the room, but Shepard heard it all the same. "It's okay if you call me Jacqueline." Shepard smiled at the young girl, "You're welcome Jacqueline.

S&amp;S

A lone figure made its way across the snow covered graveyard, a light but persistent snowfall discouraged those who would normally be paying their respects, but the man making his way through the ankle deep snow was not one to be deterred.

The figure came to his destination, a family plot fenced in by iron, pushing lightly on the gate he made his way inside the enclosure. Though his actions caused the snow covering the iron to fall, revealing the name 'Shepard' emblazoned on to the gate.

Harrison Shepard removed the hat from his head, and made his way to the small quartet of graves that were the newest additions to the enclosure.

He knelt down brushing the snow off each grave in turn, before gently placing the bouquet in his hands on the oldest grave of the four. "I know I'm early for our anniversary Mary, but I'm afraid I won't be able to be here for it." He sighed, busying himself with brushing off what snow he had missed off of her grave. "I'm going up to space again, I know I swore I never would once I mustered out, but Christ Mary they are making a mess of things."

He sighed, glancing at the grave next to hers. "This is all your crony's fault John and you know it, can't let things lie, still keeping the anger alive for a war when they should be looking to the future." He huffed shaking his head he turned away to look up at the gray sky overhead. As he did he tried to memorize the feeling of being planetside, and old ritual he had kept to since his first tour out in the void. He had always hated space a byproduct likely of being from the pioneer generation, back when space travel was not as common as simply getting on a bus, give him a sky and solid ground any day.

He shuffled his feet to keep some feeling in them, looking back to Mary's grave. "I hope you and Eva are getting along Mary, I always wished you had been able to meet her. I'm sure you are thick as thieves now, when she isn't driving you up the walls with all her techno babble." A small smile crossed his face at the thought, his wife had a very strict no tech talk rule around the house, he wondered how his Granddaughter was dealing with it.

The sound of crunching snow caused him to turn around, an obviously shivering Lieutenant. "Sir the shuttle is departing soon."

Harrison fixed a glare upon the young man, "Son, do you honestly believe that they intend to take off without me?" He shook his head at the thought, turning back towards his Wife's grave. "I love you Mary, and pass my love on to the others. I'll make sure I'm back for our next Anniversary at the least, hopefully I won't be gone for that long."

He stood up and walked out of the enclosure, pulling his hat back on after he shut the gate behind him. Glancing at the still shivering officer he shook his head, "You come all the way up here, and you don't think to bring a winter coat, not sure how you expect to ever make Admiral with that level of planning."

With that he began to march towards the waiting aircar, not pausing to see if the young man behind him was keeping up.

Harrison was already seated by the time the still shivering Lieutenant hauled himself into the vehicle, at which point the driver began to fly them towards the nearest Alliance starport. The officer kept glancing his way, causing Harrison to finally huff out, "What's your name son?"

Startled the Lieutenant managed to stammer out, "M-Mathew sir, Mathew Tanner sir."

A smirk crossed the older man's lips, he still could intimidate with the best of them. "Ask your questions son, you have fifteen minutes and I don't expect we will meet again."

Tanner swallowed several times before finally gathering his nerve, "What was it like building Arcturus, I mean you constructed the capital of the Alliance. I can't imagine how proud you must have been."

Harrison chuckled at that, "You probably can't, I hated every damn moment of that project. The military wanted a fortress, the politicians wanted a statement, the civvies just wanted to live on the damn thing, do you know how mutually exclusive those three things are? Plus to do all of that in vacuum, because the damn thing was too large to be built on Earth then hauled up to space."

"So no, I wasn't proud when I was done, I was relieved that the thing didn't cave in after five minutes. Wouldn't that have been a headline." He chuckled at that.

A look of confusion crossed Tanner's face, "But you are still a folk hero on Arcturus, hell every election they ask you to run just so they can vote you in."

A sharp harsh laugh filled the car, "Politics! Only thing worse than military politics is when you take out the military." He shook his head a little at his previous statement, "And yes I do have a lot of personal pull on Arcturus, because I was the only person who seemed to realize that if you are going to name a space station as your capital it better be able to fit a lot of people. Sure it pissed off both Parliament and the Admiralty at the time, and ya it cost me my job, but I think the results speak for itself."

And they did he supposed, Arcturus was the second largest station in Council space, and had over a million people living on it without even factoring in military personnel. Of course the station had run terribly over budget, but he had been creating an entirely new modular system so that the station could be easily expanded over time, the results of course was that Arcturus had over the years grown to fill all the roles she had been intended for, not that he had gotten any official credit for it. The only evidence of his involvement was his name stamped on to the very first beam laid in the heart of the station.

Tanner nodded a few times, before Harrison spoke up again. "So they still calling me by my old nickname?" At that Tanner became distinctly uncomfortable, "Nickname Sir?"

"I don't take offense to it Son, just curious if anyone still remembers my old moniker."

Tanner nodded, "Most of the rookies just hear your name in boot from the drill sergeants, but most of the older officers still speak highly of the Old Man."

Harrison simply grunted from his seat, "We'll see how highly they speak of me now that I'm on active duty again."

S&amp;S

Shepard was back at her station in front of her terminal, working away at the beginning of her report to the Council when the proximity sensor alerted her to the presence of a Krogan in front of the airlock, triggering the door she swiveled in her chair and stood up leaving her helmet back on the desk.

Wrex didn't take as long to reach the door, lacking the extreme paranoia that Jack had, or simply because he trusted her, it was hard to tell with Krogan. As the Krogan moved his large armored bulk into the bay Jack's face lit up, "You called in Red? Fuck this is going to be great."

Wrex grinned at the little human, "Good to see you too kid." Before turning to face Eva, registering her uncovered face with the same level of interest that she would buy fruit in the market with.

"Shepard."

She nodded her head, "Wrex." A brief pause hung in the air before she was compelled to ask, "How long have you known."

The large biped simply gave his equivalent of a shrug, "Broker had you pegged pretty early, passed it along as extra thanks when a job I did for him went bad. Doesn't matter much to me, you're still damn good to have in a fight." He glanced around the room, seeing a single chair that was obviously reinforced for his bulk he stomped across the room, dropping his gear next to it as he sat down.

"So we ready to start this party?" Shepard shook her head, "Still waiting on one more to arrive, she has the intelligence on where our target is."

Wrex nodded, "Always good to know where the battleground is." His gaze swept up and down her form, "Done some upgrading I see, almost think you're expecting trouble."

Evalyn shrugged, "My last mission went south, so it made me rethink my personal armament. I don't intend on losing the upper hand again."

"I can understand how death can reshuffle priorities." The tone of the Krogan's voice made her believe him, but any further conversation was cut off as the hatch opened revealing Miranda Lawson's statuesque form, though a frown crossed Shepard's face as she realized the woman had just made it past two levels of security without her noticing.

"The fuck do we need a stripper for?" Jack was giving Miranda an incredibly obvious stink eye from her seat in the corner of the room.

"Jack this is Solheim, you two ought to hate each other." She gestured for Miranda to come over to her position by the main terminal. "Solheim here has been tracking these people down for some time, so she is here to provide us with both intelligence and support ground side."

"I'm not putting my life in the hands of some fucking blow up doll." Before Shepard had a chance to defuse the situation a knife embedded itself into Jack's chair, quivering beside the girl's head. Miranda's voice carried across the room with a distinct air of smugness, "Do be careful Subject Zero, knives are quite sharp and I wouldn't want you to pop."

Jack's body flared, "How the fuck do you know that name!" But before Miranda could respond Shepard's voice rang out across the room.

"Enough!"

She maneuvered her far larger armored form between the two women, "We are here to do a job, one single job. I don't need you guys to like one another, I don't even need you to trust one another, you need to trust me and that is it. If anyone can't do that, get the fuck off my ship." No one moved, though Jack was glaring down at the ground, "No? Good."

She nodded towards Miranda, "You have the intel Solheim, so you can start off the briefing."

Miranda gave a curt nod, "Over the last few years it was brought to my attention that an increasing number of disappearances were being reported on colonies on the edge of, or outside of Alliance space. There is only a single trait that connected all these missing individuals together, which was a combined distrust of both the Council and the Alliance. Initially I didn't believe this to be linked to Cerberus, as large scale recruitment is irregular for them to say the least."

She tapped out several commands into her omni, bringing up captured armor cam footage that Eva realized must have come from either her suit or Vasir's. "Using the specialized gear that these individuals were seen using, I was able to trace their manufacture to several shell corporations used by Cerberus. As such it would seem plausible to assume that Cerberus has undergone some form of internal reorganization, as forces of even the size we have seen deployed require substantial resources to function."

Once again she tapped her omni, this time bringing up the image of a planetary system, with a single planetary body named Tarith highlighted. "I have narrowed down one of their bases to this planet, Tarith. It exists within the habitable zone for most Council races, but the environment is saturated in chlorine leaving the lowlands inhabitable. As such it has been passed over for colonization several times, but it is precisely the type of planet Cerberus looks for when constructing a base."

Shepard nodded in thanks to the older woman, stepping forward she began to speak. "Once we arrive in system we will have a clearer picture of what to expect on the surface. I'm going to have Illium dispatch a patrol to clear the system of any ships Cerberus may have milling about." She glanced over at Wrex, "You and I will likely be doing a drop so that the GTS defenses can be taken out." Wrex nodded, but she could hear him grumbling about the news.

Shepard gestured for them to follow her, as she led them to the armory she pointed to a line of crates against the wall. "There is gear inside for all of you to use, get suited up while I bring us out of the station."

Jack moved first, opening up her crate like it was a Christmas present, a frown crossing her face as she pulled out a suit of light armor. "No way, I'm not a doll for you to fucking dress up."

Evalyn groaned and walked over to the biotic, "I built that suit to give you the most protection possible without restricting you." She clapped a hand on the smaller human's back, smirking at the scowl on Jack's face, "Now be a good girl and use protection."

Miranda snickered from her where she was standing, pulling out her own set of armor that Evalyn had supplied for her. The suit appeared to be far heavier than Jack's, but perhaps that was to account for the fact that like Evalyn she approached combat from a multifaceted perspective. The blonde's voice caught Miranda's attention, "Your suit Solheim has integrated tech armor capabilities, you should be able to activate it once your omni has synced with the suit." Miranda nodded at Shepard in thanks who returned the gesture.

Wrex was standing in front of the small crate with his name on it, "Kind of small armor if you ask me Shepard."

Eva let out a laugh at that, "Just open it."

Wrex shrugged and flipped the latches on either side of the crate, a cruel grin crossing his scarred maw at the sight of the massive shotgun inside. Eva moved over and tapped the rear housing of the weapon, "I took the base human claymore and removed the thermal clips system, the heatsinks I installed could fire three shots before they had to cool in testing, so make sure you don't miss."

Wrex's grin if anything grew at that, "If I need more than one shot with this I'm doing it wrong." At that he walked back to the living quarters, examining the gun in his hands as he walked.

"Well if no one has any other questions I'm going to get us on our way." With that Eva began to make her way to the cockpit, aware that Miranda was silently following her. As she sat down in the pilot's chair Miranda almost soundlessly slipped into the co-pilot seat.

Nothing broke the silence in the cockpit aside for the occasional thrown switch, until Eva sighed and spoke. "Where did that knife come from exactly?"

Miranda smiled slightly, "Girl has to keep her secrets." The older woman opened her mouth to speak several times before seemingly deciding what she was going to say, "And it seems that you decided to let one of yours out, is it wise trusting them with your identity."

Eva glanced at her, "Any wiser than trusting you?"

Miranda sighed, "I know you don't think you have any reason to trust me, but I would never do anything to put you in jeopardy."

A dry chuckle escaped the blonde's lips, "Yep Mom would be pretty pissed at you I expect, pretty bad if the surrogate daughter gets the biological one killed." Miranda visibly stiffened at that statement causing Eva to laugh harder, "It's almost like people think I'm stupid, or did you truly think I would overlook all the signs."

Shepard slowly brought the ship out of the dock, Miranda just silently sat in the chair, before her voice quietly broke the silence. "I was planning on telling you after this mission."

Eva nodded, "I do believe that." Silence once again filled the room, before Eva spoke again her voice surprisingly gentle. "So, when exactly did Mom, um, become your Mom. Goddess that sounded better in my head."

Miranda idly rubbed her hands together, "I was seventeen when I joined Cerberus, in exchange for my loyalty they hid my Sister away from my Father. Mother was originally assigned to help to acclimatize to life outside of my Father's control, and over time she became the Mother I never had."

"So this sister of yours, is she still in Cerberus protection?"

The raven haired woman shook her head, "No, Mom helped me move her and her family to a new location." She paused for a moment, "I read the action reports from Aite, and I know why you are so angry and we both know that it has nothing to do with Cerberus."

The younger woman slowly turned to regard her, 'Sister.' "Oh? And what is it that I am angry about? Please do tell."

Miranda sighed, she knew this was going to be hard, but she wanted to try for Hannah's sake if not for Evalyn's. "You say that you are angry at Cerberus because of what happened to Tess, but we both know that who you are really angry at is yourself."

"And what makes you so certain of your diagnosis, Miri." She last word of that sentence came out as a sneer, and Miranda did not fail to notice how tightly Shepard was gripped the controls of the ship.

Miranda glanced out into space, before speaking barely above a whisper. "Because in order to move Oriana safely I had to kill my only childhood friend." She turned to look directly at Evalyn, "I could feel my soul die piece by piece each day, everything I saw just reminded me of him. It, it took a long time before I managed to heal, took a lot of patience from those few people who are close to me." She sighed, glancing down for a moment before returning her gaze to Evalyn, "I'm worried that you want to feel the anger more than you want to move past it, because to do so means you would have to forgive yourself."

The younger woman held her gaze for a few moments, before her mouth opened to utter a single sentence, "Get out." The words were not shouted, but the tone they were uttered in left no room for argument, but at the same time Miranda did not fail to notice the tears tracing down Evalyn's face.

Miranda nodded and slid out of her chair, "If you need to talk, I'm willing to listen." And with that she was gone. Only after the door slid closed behind her did Evalyn allow herself to break down, if only for a few minutes.

S&amp;S

While Shepard would spend the rest of the flight in the cockpit by herself Miranda returned to the small common area of the ship, the Krogan was dozing off in his chair, a habit no doubt formed after centuries of combat. Jack however was sitting in the same seat in the corner now wearing the armor she had been given, playing with the knife that Miranda had thrown at her earlier.

As Miranda slid into the closest seat at the nearby table she heard a thud as Jack gracelessly dropped her body into the chair across from her. "I don't care what Shepard says you smell like Cerberus bitch."

Miranda activated her omni, tapping a few notes into the program she had previously had running. "So Cerberus smells like someone who washes regularly, that must make discovering them quite easy given the crowd you normally run around with Jack."

She could hear Jack's gloves squeak against the knife's handle as the comment hit home, but still Miranda did not glance at the girl.

"If it wasn't for Shepard you'd be fucking paste you know that right cheerleader."

Miranda sighed, "If it wasn't for Shepard neither of us would probably ever meet, so to contemplate a scenario where we happened to be in the same location so that you could pummel me seems to be a waste of time that could be spent preparing for the mission."

"And what happens if you have some nasty accident during the mission, things get pretty confusing in the thick of things." Miranda could hear Jack shift, so she assumed that the girl was taking some obnoxiously smug posture. Miranda swiped left on her omni, filling away a requisition order for the _Nova _that could be completed later.

She glanced up at Jack, her eyes boring into the younger girl's. "Then I guess I will just have to rely on my superior fighting skills then."

Jack laughed, a ridiculously fake head tilted back laugh, but a laugh none the less. "Right, Miss Wetdream here is going to kick my ass."

Miranda glared at her, despite everything she was rather proud of her body, and this girl was starting to piss her off. "I am more than capable of dealing with you Jack, like Shepard I see the usefulness of engaging in all forms of combat."

Jack smirked, "So your one of those Sentinels like the Alliance has, do you also get a nurse uniform too?"

Before Miranda could reply the deep voice of the Krogan interrupted them, "Calling Solheim or Shepard a sentinel is like calling a sharp rock an omni-blade. They both do the same thing, but you'd never mistake one for the other." Before either of them could respond he spoke again, "Now would you two both shut up, I'm trying to sleep here."

Miranda smirked at Jack, "The Krogan voted for me, so I believe that means I win." Miranda stood up and stretched, "If we arrive tell Shepard I've gone to find someplace to lie down, I'm certain that it won't be hard to find me in this shoe box of a ship. Oh and feel free to keep the knife Jack."

Once Miranda was out of sight Jack grabbed a nearby cup off the desk and hurled it at Wrex, hissing at him, "Traitor!"

Wrex of course kept on sleeping.

S&amp;S

Shepard hummed to herself as she went over the details of the base, the probe had given her a pretty detailed view of the base so she was confident that there would at least be no major unknowns to deal with. Nodding to herself she finalized the plan she had drawn up, with that done she glanced up and waved over the others to join her at the briefing table.

Miranda took position directly opposite of Shepard, while Jack maneuvered herself to Eva's right, Wrex for his part just trundled over to the last remaining unclaimed side of the table. Tapping a control on the table a hologram appeared detailing the base they were going to be assaulting, "This assault will be a two stage event, first Wrex and I will drop to the surface while the ship goes through the motions of landing to discharge the drive core. Tarith has breathable atmosphere so it is actually a pretty popular spot for that, so Cerberus protocol dictates that they not break cover unless they believe that base's identity has been compromised."

She glanced up at Miranda, "Solheim, you will be in charge of the ship while Wrex and I take out the GTS defenses." Jack though didn't even bother to hide the scowl on her face, "No, no fucking way am I taking orders from the cheerleader."

Shepard tilted her head towards Jack, "Jacqueline, you agreed to stay which means you do what I fucking say, now shut up and listen to the rest of the plan."

Jack's body flared in response, "Fuck tha-" the rest of her sentence abruptly ended as Shepard's right arm shot forward like a snake, catching Jack's throat in her grip.

Jack's feed dangled off the ground as Shepard hoisted her off the ground until she was looking directly into Eva's eyes, "Jacqueline, I am getting really sick of this shit, I get it you don't like Solheim and quite frankly I don't give a shit. Don't get me wrong I'm rather fond of you, I still would like to help you make something of your life, but if you keep on pushing me I swear by the Goddess I will toss you out the fucking airlock!" As her shout finished echoing throughout the room she tossed Jack aside, ignoring the terror visible in the younger girl's eyes.

Shepard turned away from Jack and returned to her former position, "Does anyone else have a problem with the plan so far?"

Miranda simply shook her head, and moved to help Jack up to her feet, the younger biotic just starred at the older woman for a few moments before accepting the offer of help.

Wrex on the other hand glanced at the diagram, "Where exactly are we trying to land, because those guns are set up in the middle of a kill zone, lots of opportunities for us to get flanked while you toy around with those guns."

Shepard nodded, "I know, and that is why I need you down there with me, anyone else and they might die before I get the guns offline."

Wrex nodded, but she could tell he didn't like it. She leaned over the table, propping herself on her elbows to look over it, "If we survive this I'll never ask you to jump out of another ship again."

Wrex glanced at her, a grin forming across his face as he chuckled, "You've got yourself a deal."

Jack meanwhile had recovered, though she still lingered a distance from Shepard. Evalyn knew that she shouldn't have done what she did, but she also needed to put Jacqueline in her place or she could jeopardize the whole mission.

But that was something she could solve later, for now she needed to finish this briefing, tapping another control the display switched to highlight the main complex. "Once the guns are offline you two will land the ship in the courtyard just in front of the facility, the building is a standard large prefab warehouse so the exact numbers of hostiles are likely forty plus. We will break through the main doors using the charges I have on the ship, once inside we work as a unit and clear it room by room, no survivors."

She paused to see if anyone had anything to add, "After we are done mopping up the facility Solheim and I will ensure that any Cerberus booby traps are taken care of, we don't want to go to all this trouble just to have the base blow up with us in it." She tapped the display once more to shut down the emitter, glancing around the room she let out a small shrug. "That's it in a nutshell, we have surprise, decent intel, and are against mostly recruits I suspect. Keep calm out there and everyone will make it back alive."

Everyone at the table nodded at that, Evalyn grabbed her helmet from the edge of the table. "Alright everyone gear up, we'll be deploying in thirty minutes."

S&amp;S

Shepard glanced over at Wrex as he rechecked the jump kit she had supplied him with, the Krogan had made his dislike of this portion of the plan, making her promise him that this was the last time she was ever going to ask him to jump out of a ship.

Miranda's voice came over the ships comms, "In position for drop in one minute."

Shepard activated the magnetic locks in her gauntlets, not willing to lose the rifle she had gone to such lengths to acquire in the first mission she undertook with it. She glanced over at Wrex, a smile in her voice, "Come on Wrex, it's not so bad."

Wrex merely glowered at her, "I've learned two things over the course of my lifetime, eating a Turian is just a bad experience for all involved, and gravity is a bitch."

"Thirty seconds until drop." Miranda's voice was so akin to someone announcing departures at a terminal, of course she also wasn't jumping out into the upper atmosphere into hostile territory.

Wrex's grip tightened on his claymore, a grim expression settling across his face. Shepard for her part just concentrated on the task at hand, which meant glaring holes into the hatch in front of her.

"Fifteen seconds." Wrex snarled, "Does she not realize we have a clock in our helmets."

Shepard smirked, "Let it slide Wrex, she's nervous just like everyone else."

"Over the drop, hatch seals are popped." Atmosphere buffeted into them as the room attempted to equalize with the air outside, Shepard took point dashing forward and hurling herself through the opening, though she could hear Wrex's thunderous footsteps behind her.

It took her a few seconds to right herself once outside the ship, though it was easy to stop the target area, a broad swath of land that was flattened and covered with prefab structures. Her jets fired several times to get her on course for her landing zone which was located right next to the GTS battery.

"Wrex I'm pretty sure that I can see some bodies moving about down there, get ready for a hot LZ."

"I didn't come here for the view, at least if I crash I might hit one of them."

She couldn't contain the almost hysterical laugh that bubbled up inside her, though it was cut somewhat short as her thrusters fired to bring her landing under control, the sudden deceleration was painful but no worse than pulling a high-g maneuver in space. As her boots hit the ground she slid a forward a few meters in the loose soil of the compound, glancing up she quickly sighted on the nearest visible target, the round from her armor piecing rifle making short work of the man's skull.

"Holy shit we're under attack." Wrex's shotgun boomed out as he began to unleash hell as he too landed, but Shepard didn't have time to play around, dashing towards the nearby defenses while she triggered her drones to deploy.

Having the other two displays constantly in her HUD was confusing in her initial sim tests, but now it had become second nature, their VI's were basic but thorough enabling them to react to most situations without her having to directly control them.

As such while Wrex finished off anyone approaching her, the ravens flushed targets out of cover for him to deal with.

She shipped her rifle as she ripped the panel off the nearest battery, rummaging around inside until she found the targeting computer that fed telemetry data to the missile batteries. While a guardian system, or even a large scale accelerator cannon could be theoretically operated manually, a missile system was not something that a human could program on the fly to account for an actively dodging ship.

"One done three more to go, shifting positions Wrex." She began to dash forward, Muninn swept the path in front of her ensuring that no one was waiting in ambush, Huginn stayed back to cover Wrex as he moved to keep up with her.

The second system came down faster than the first, thanks in part to the identical nature of the structures a feature that made maintenance and sabotage both much easier. Movement on Muninn's display caught her attention, her hand moved to grasp the pistol that popped out of her hip in a single smooth motion to finish off a soldier attempting to sneak up on her.

"Nice shot, we done here?" The scarred Krogan had swapped the claymore for what looked to be a striker assault rifle, a Krogan designed weapon that fired rounds that exploded upon contact with the target.

Shepard nodded at him, "Ya, cover me I'm moving." The dull thud of explosions told her all she needed to know as she raced across the open ground between guns, she threw herself into a slide as she neared the gun and crawled to the nearby panel. Just as she was yanking out the target component she heard Wrex grunt in pain, "You okay Wrex?"

"Ya, pretty sure they got one of my liver's though, mind getting one of your drone's to keep that sniper pinned." Wrex's voice was strained, but his vitals were still stable so she didn't worry overmuch about his situation. It was the work of a moment for her to send the command to Huginn through her cybernetics, but it was still a moment where she was vulnerable as her entire being was focused inward instead of on the battlefield. The drone smoothly sailed off to carry off her orders, it's machine gun forcing the sniper out of cover and into the range of Wrex's pull attack.

Satisfied that Wrex was fine she took off for the last gun, deploying her shield forward to cover her dash across the path between the guns. "On the way, I'm heading for the last battery then we just need to bunker down and wait for backup."

Several rounds pinged off her barriers as another group of soldiers arrived from what she assumed were the training grounds, the figure in the front was equipped with what looked to be an integrated signal jammer, which was soon confirmed as her suit's radar began to show interference. "Move up you worthless bastards! First one who scores a kill gets promoted to pilot!"

Shepard cursed as she hurled herself forward, using the GTS battery to block their shots, but they still had the angle on the hatch that she needed to get to.

The Cerberus commander continued to shout, "Flank the woman, snipers pick off the Krogan, and will someone shoot those fucking drones!"

Her drone's detecting that they were now being targeted flitted behind whatever cover they could, while Shepard picked off whatever idiots moved into her field of fire. Wrex meanwhile had dived into cover for a few moments to allow his shield to recharge, and suddenly with a bellow he charged the snipers across the compound, summoning a biotic barrier as soon as his shields fell to carry him the remaining distance.

The Cerberus leader continued to shout orders out loud, though why he did was beyond her understanding. "Central we need more men out here!" Waving his men to form up on him he shouted again, "Don't just fucking attack her one at a time you idiots rush the bitch! On me!" She wasn't sure if it was bravado, or if this guy really thought that this was the best course of action, she honestly didn't care as she pulled an explosive off her belt and thumbed the charge to impact mode.

She rolled out of cover, tossing the disk shaped charge in a single smooth motion, dead center into the middle of the Cerberus pack charging her. She couldn't make out what they screamed before the charge went off, but she assumed it was some variant of the word shit. Her saber barked as it swiftly ended those who had been on the edge of the explosion, and she signaled the drones to finish off those still alive as she began work on the last battery.

The moment she yanked out the last chip she sent the all clear signal to Miranda, "All right Wrex now we play for time."

The Krogan nodded, "There are a few prefab's closer to the warehouse, I vote we use them for cover."

"Sounds good." The two of them dashed across the compound, already squads were pouring out of the warehouse but it was obvious that these soldiers were still in training and so they were easy fodder for the more experienced duo. "They aren't too bright, but their sure are a lot of them!" She tossed another charge at the wall in front of them, creating a quick access point for them to enter the structure.

Wrex clambered in first, his shotgun making quick work of those inside while Shepard guarded the impromptu entrance way until Wrex cleared the structure. "Clear, but their are some of those shield using guys you mentioned." Shepard signed to the drones to guard the entrance before turning and hauling herself into the building.

She positioned herself against a support beam next to a window that Wrex had already bashed out, joining the mercenary in steadily whittling down their foes. At the sight of several guardian's advancing in formation to cover the men behind them Wrex chuckled, "They're starting to use tactics now, better late than never I guess."

Shepard glanced at her HUD's tracker to ascertain Miranda's ETA, which she followed up with a warp attack directed at where she knew the handle to be on the shield, the metal twisted and buckled under the barrage of the biotic attack. As soldier was forced to drop their shield Wrex opened fire with his striker, the heavy explosive rounds cutting a swathe through the troopers who had been taking cover behind their fellow.

Suddenly though both Wrex and Shepard were sent flying as an explosion sent them tumbling backwards, a voice echoing throughout the compound, "Enough games Spectre, let's see how you fare against real soldiers."

Shepard groggily stood up, only to find herself tackled by a figure in what looked to be one of her prototype suits, they fell through the hole in the wall her drones unable to fire as they were programmed not to hit her. A growl built up inside of her, "You bastards did get some data out of Aite then!" The figure above her slammed a fist downward, only to have her catch it in her left, swinging with a biotically augmented right hook she caught the figure on top of her in the jaw causing him to tumble off of her.

"Shepard I need some help over here!" Shepard turned to the two drones signing to them to assist Wrex, only to growl as her shields flared from the assault rifle now in her opponents hands. She threw herself into a roll, coming out of it with her shield raised and pistol now in her left hand, her opponent though had a surprise of their own as she belatedly realized that a grenade was sitting directly at her feet.

The explosion never came, instead a blinding flash of light and noise assaulted her helmet's systems briefly overloading them. She soon lost her footing as an impact against her chest sent her tumbling, but instead of waiting to be gut stabbed she triggered the jets on her legs, sending her skidding away from her foe.

Her helmet rebooted just in time for her to lock her omni-blade against the blade of her advancing counterpart, though she was soon surprised as a jet of flame erupted from their wrists to lick against her armor's torso. Pulling her head back she slammed her helmet against his, briefly stunning him so that she could stab the omni-blade now formed on her left arm into the his ribs.

As she twisted and then wrenched the blade out he stumbled back a few steps, "Don't think you've won Spectre." He reached down pulling a small device from his belt, "This triggers the base's destruct sequence and seeing as how I'm not going to sur-" He was silenced as she quick drew her right pistol, the heavy explosive round obliterating most of his upper body, though at the cost of the pistol itself whose electronics began to sizzle and smoke.

"Fucking prototypes." She tossed the now useless weapon aside and hurried over to the corpse allowing a sigh of relief upon seeing that the detonator had not been activated.

Sudden realization dawned on her that she had lost track of everyone else in the confusion, suddenly aware of Miranda shouting into the comms. "Aim for the actuators Jack!"

"Like I even know what the fuck those are!"

An exasperated sigh filled the channel, "The god damn things that make the limbs move!"

A sudden flare of biotic light filled the sky and Shepard could see what looked to be an arm ending in a cannon tumble through the air, "Why the fuck didn't you say so in the first place."

Shepard hurried forward, thudding into cover next to Wrex who looked to be a little worse for wear. He turned towards her, a grin crossing his face "You done playing with your new friend?"

She shrugged, "He was kind of an ass, and a very sore loser." As she was about to vault over the makeshift barricade Wrex was using he hauled her back, thrusting her sabre back into her hands. "Might want to keep better track of that."

Shepard nodded and continued forward taking careful aim at the canopy of the mech in front of her, the rounds from the saber causing the glass to splinter with each shot. A flash of biotic energy, this time from Miranda, slammed into the now weakened barrier which crumpled inwards turning the protective barrier into a multitude of projectiles that shredded the pilot within.

The former Cerberus operative dashed across to the mech, nimbly hauling herself up to the canopy which she now relieved of it's former pilot. As she tested the controls in front of her she shouted down to Shepard, "You two clear out whoever is left inside, Wrex and I will handle the reinforcements I spotted coming from the training grounds."

Wrex gave out a labored chuckle, "If someone gets me a drink and a proper chair I might just call this the best vacation I've had in years."

Shepard nodded to Jack, who she noted had pulled her street clothes over top of her armor, "You good Jacqueline?" The younger girl gave a determined nod, "Alright then lets go, ravens sweep the building." The two drones almost lazily glided into the warehouse, as they began to scout the building ahead room by room.

They were both dimly aware of the sound of gunfire outside, but she was confident in Wrex and Miranda's abilities, her HUD pinged as the drones thermal sensors picked up soldiers in position in what she assumed must be the control room.

"Jacqueline we have targets up ahead, they know we're coming so I'll go in first, you disrupt their formation." The younger human didn't say anything but she nodded, right before Shepard triggered the door she paused, "Oh and try to avoid shockwaves, I want to try and keep these computer systems intact."

Before Jack could respond she slammed the door controls, advancing forward using her shield as cover though several rounds did strike her kinetic barrier as the soldiers had spread themselves across the room. Shepard opened fire, as did her drones which followed her in, but Jacqueline's contribution was the most impressive, as a singularity lit up the center of the room drawing in all those around it.

Shepard locked her boots to the floor, while the drones anchored themselves to her armor to protect themselves, and as the last soldier found himself trapped in the biotic vortex Shepard flung forward her hand casting a warp field which destabilized the mass effect field before her.

The resulting explosion disintegrated those in the center, and sent the rest flying to the far corners of the room. "Kill all of them but the one in the advanced armor." Jacqueline smirked at that, as she and her drones got to work, Shepard approached another asshole wearing a suit of her own devising.

She hauled off his helmet, eliciting a groan of pain as he had a rather impressive hole in his chest. "Tell me how many of these bases Cerberus has and I make it quick."

The figure beneath her laughed, "You'll never find them, I wiped the computers the moment you landed, you lost Spectre."

She took a step forward, planting her foot solidly on his torso causing him to gasp in pain, and began to slowly but surely push down. "I don't know about that, I mean you guys wearing that armor is a pretty good example of how even the most throughout attempts to scrub data can be insufficient." She shifted forward again, causing another groan of pain, "Don't you want me to help you end this pain."

"You can kill as many of us as you want, cut off one head and another grows back that is how Cerberus works."

Shepard groaned, this idiot didn't know anything, which was, unfortunate. "That's a hydra you idiot," a single shot rang out from her pistol, though she was distinctly aware of Jack's sudden giggle fit.

Shepard keyed her comm, "Solheim is everything good out there?" She could hear the steady sound of an accelerator cannon firing, but Miranda's voice soon came over the channel. "Everything is under control out here, they appear to have begun pulling back which I assume you had some part of."

"Ya though I think I killed their cell leader earlier, the guy in charge in here wasn't that bright." She waved to Jack to head back outside still giggling about hydras, sending the drones with her. "Jacqueline is heading outside to help Wrex, I need you in here to help me pull whatever I can from these systems."

"Of course, on my way."

Shepard immediately did a quick check to ensure that everything was nominal in the base, quickly shutting off a simplistic trap program intended to overload the base's reactor like she had done on Aite. Miranda soon joined her and began to assist.

S&amp;S

The data while it did not contain the location of other bases like she had hoped, did contain enough evidence to prove that Cerberus was indeed forming an army, an act that she was quite certain the Council would find alarming.

But for now she was simply resting on the ship, Wrex had already left, content to tell her that if she needed him she just had to call. Jack, Jacqueline she reminded herself, was lingering a little so she pulled the girl aside.

"Jacqueline I meant what I said, if you want I will help you."

The girl frowned, her voice was quiet but frustrated. "And do what? Work in a store, or fucking C-Sec, I need to fight Shepard, every time I try to avoid it I always end up making a mess of things until I'm wrecking shit again."

Shepard nodded, "I understand, and I was thinking more along the lines of the Alliance. I still have some connections, and they would love to how a biotic of your caliber, and I'm pretty sure that with the points I'm about to score here I could get your criminal past expunged."

Jacqueline glanced down at her feet, "Why are you trying so hard to help me?" Shepard paused briefly trying to decide whether to try to comfort the girl, finally she slowly pulled the girl into a loose hug, Jacqueline stiffened but slowly relaxed. "Jacqueline you had your childhood stolen by Cerberus, there is no reason to let them steal your future as well."

She felt the girl fidget so she released her, letting a small smile creep across her face she placed a hand on her shoulder. "Just think about it, no reason to decide this second. And keep the armor, think of it as your payment, or just a thank you."

Jacqueline nodded, tears prickling at the girl's eyes, "Thanks Shepard, I'll, I'll be in touch I think." With that she hurried out, but Eva had a feeling that she would be hearing from her sooner rather than later.

With that she returned to the living area, to find Miranda glowering at the beer in her hand. "I don't know how you drink this swill."

Shepard let herself fall into the nearest chair, "In very large quantities." She waved her hand for a bottle, which Miranda deftly tossed to her. Throwing her head back she drained the bottle, and noticing the look on Miranda's face she shrugged. "If we are going to have the awkward sibling talk you wanted I don't want to be fucking sober for it."

Miranda glanced at the bottle, before she too drained hers and tossed Evalyn a replacement. The raven haired woman glanced across at the blonde, "You ask a question, then I ask a question, fair?"

Shepard inclined her head, "Fair, alright how old are you?"

Miranda was a little surprised by the docile nature of the question, "Thirty three." Shepard raised her eyebrows at that, but didn't question it. The older woman played with her bottle a little before glancing up, "What do you like to do for fun? And yes that is my question, I don't want to buy you a gun for Christmas."

Shepard couldn't help but toss her head back in a laugh, "Oh Goddess we are going to have to do that now won't we, well it will make Mom happy I suppose." She tossed the bottle in her hands back and forth while she thought. "Um, hmm, aside for pushing the bounds of acceptable science." She paused for a moment, before a small smile spread across her face, "I still like to watch old superhero films, mid to late twenty-first century ones are my favorite, but Mom likes the earlier ones."

Miranda laughed but seemed satisfied with the response. "You said you had another Sister, what's up with that." A slightly awkward pause ensued, "Unless you really don't want to answer, I can just ask another question if you want to keep it light."

Miranda shook her head no, "It's complicated to explain." She tossed back the beer in her hand, grimacing at the taste. "I was designed to be perfect, my genetic makeup is composed of my Father and numerous genetic donors he deemed suitable to create the perfect heir. Which as you can see he got, but as I grew up he decided that I was too, spirited." She sighed and finished off the drink in her hand, "He grew my sister when I turned sixteen, but I was only able to escape with her a year later. And well I told you the rest."

Miranda glanced up at her, "Why do you do this, work for the Alliance, the Council? You are smart enough that you could, in a matter of days take over the tech market, so why be content with just shooting people?"

Shepard dropped her now empty bottle to the table, "That questions needs another beer before I can answer." Miranda obliged the request, watching with a mix of awe and disgust as the blonde woman drank it in a single go.

Slamming the bottle to the table Shepard sighed, "It's true, I'm smart enough that I could probably take over the market in a manner of months, flooding it with new products. But I've learned something about Council space."

As she paused Miranda realized she was waiting for audience participation, rolling her eyes she said "And what is that?"

"They don't fucking like change, they don't want something new like we do, because they are so used to maintaining the status quo that it is the only thing they care about now. Threatening that is what made Dad a target, what made me a target, so I don't threaten it I just keep pushing against it."

Miranda frowned, "How do you push against it?"

Shepard smirked, "Glad you ask, and now I get another question." Miranda scowled at her but nodded, "I do run a small tech company, out of Illium called Tide's Edge. Mostly we just put out superior variants of modern equipment, but once in a while I slip in something new. I think I made the Illium top five hundred last year." Noticing Miranda's incredulous look Eva's smirk just grew, "How do you think I pay for all this stuff. Between the company, and my investments I'm actually one of the best funded Spectres."

Miranda shook her head in disbelief, "And here Mom is thinking that you have no idea what you are doing."

They both chuckled at that, though Shepard soon put on a serious face. "Alright I need to know two very important things. Are you prepared to answer them?"

Miranda sighed, but nodded. Shepard molified by the response relaxed, "Alright question one, what type of film's do you like?"

Miranda was obviously surprised by the question, but soon a small smile played across her face, "I'm ashamed to admit that I'm a rather huge fan of spy films."

They both laughed at that, Eva teasing the older woman "You wouldn't happen to see yourself in the characters would you Miss. Lawson." They both smirked at that.

Shepard glanced at the nearby vid screen, having decided on her second question. "You want to watch a movie? I'm certain that I have a spy film or two on my omni." Miranda gave a small smile and nodded, finding an odd kind of comfort in this rather unexpected turn of events.

Shepard tapped a few icon's on her omni, causing the lights to dim and the screen flickered to life. She glanced over at Miranda, "You don't talk during movies right?"

Miranda laughed, but covered her mouth at the glare coming from Eva. "No, I swear I don't."

Eva gave a small grunt, "Good, I'd hate to kill my big sis."

Those small words were unbelievably difficult for Eva to utter, but upon seeing the older woman's reaction she knew that they had been the right thing to say.

"Thank you Eva it mean-" She found herself shushed by the younger human, "The movie is on Miri." A few moments passed when a small addendum followed, "And you're welcome."

The two settled down to watch the film as the studio logo's began to play on the screen.

S&amp;S

AN: Bloody hell this thing just kept getting longer and longer, literally this is the halfway point of the outline I drew up for this chapter, and I really didn't want to put out a chapter that was nearly half as long as the rest of the story.

Well I hope you enjoyed it, this was the action segment of the end, next chapter will see resolution and politics. And in case you guys haven't guessed yet things are going to be rather altered for ME 1, cannon means nothing!

So click the buttons down below if you want to, I always appreciate them. Also feel free to PM me if you want further elaboration on anything going on or just want to bring something up, I enjoy it when people are engaged in my work.


	14. Converging qualities and quantities

AN: This is the official end of this story, for real this time. I intend for the ME 1 story to be readable without having to read the prologue, which means there may be some overlap, but I feel that ME 1 might be an easier point for some people to get involved in. That being said there will be flashbacks to pre-ME 1 years, some missions that you never heard of in this story, tales from Evalyn's formative years (as I'm worried that I have given the impression that Hannah was a bad parent), and most importantly Nihlus outrunning crazed Asari Justicars!

I'd also like to thank all those who have read this story, I haven't written anything in nearly four years, and I hadn't written fiction in nearly a decade, so thanks for sticking with me as I stumbled through this. I still need to go back and proofread these chapters a little better, despite my best efforts I always miss something, and maybe I'll find a beta reader eventually, fingers crossed. With that said I hope you enjoy the last chapter.

Song: Forever by Paradox Music

S&amp;S

2183 CE

Miranda slowly but surely navigated her way through the asteroid based Orthus hideout, despite their best efforts the moniker that Evalyn had given them had stuck, something that continued to irk Miranda. That thought however was banished as the hatch leading to her private quarters came to view, instead they were now replaced with only a driving need for sleep.

Her body was of course engineered to operate far past the standard norms of most humans, but it did not change the fact that recent events had left her both physically and emotionally exhausted. Thumbing the panel that activated the hatch she stumbled inside with less than her usual poise, tossing the bag containing her gear, plus the new armor from her, Sister, into the corner.

Sister, that was a word that meant a great deal to Miranda. She had thrown away any chance of a normal life to save one who didn't to this day know that she even existed, perhaps the blossoming relationship with Evalyn was a type of balancing of the scales. Regardless as she dropped her still clothed figure into the bunk she concluded that the evening had been nice, well beyond what she had expected in her most optimistic of scenarios.

Before sleep claimed her however, a chime filled the room informing her that someone was requesting entrance to her quarters. Of course she knew who it was, and it would be cruel to keep Hannah wandering the halls until she awoke in a few hours, which was how she found herself groggily tapping the control on the bunk's wall to open the hatch.

Hannah of course somehow managed to look more tired than Miranda did, likely the woman had forgone sleep since she had departed the station. The older woman sat down in the solitary chair by Miranda's desk, spinning it around so that she was looking at the younger woman who still had her head mostly in a pillow.

"Sorry for waking you, I was hoping to catch you before you made it to your quarters but I was held up." Miranda just lazily waved a hand in dismissal, and managed to croak out a groggy response, "It's alright I wasn't asleep yet."

A small smile played across Hannah's features, "If you say so," but they were quickly followed up by a frown. "I was worried with how long it took you getting back here, I expected you to be coming back as soon as you informed me that the mission was complete. Nothing went wrong that you aren't telling me about?"

Miranda sighed, and positioned herself so that she was propped on one arm facing Hannah, shaking her head to disagree with Hannah's last statement. "No, nothing went wrong. Evalyn, Eva, we had a talk, a good talk," noticing the odd look on Hannah's face she clarified, "She knows that you basically adopted me." Seeing the momentary look of shock cross Hannah's features she added, "And she felt slightly insulted that we thought we could hide it from her, apparently she harbors a belief that we thought she was an idiot."

A smile pulled at her lips as she remembered how the slightly strained evening she had spent with Eva had turned into a rather pleasant experience, "I'm not going to claim that we are all of a sudden close, but it was a good first step. And she opened up to me a little, set up an encrypted link so that she could talk to me from time to time."

Noticing the look of pain that flashed across Hannah's face she couldn't help but feel for her Mother, but she knew it would be a very long time before Eva would confide again in their shared Parent. "I'm sorry, but she's still furious with you. It's not that she doesn't love you, but I think she's worried about what she would do to you if you were in a room together, Tess' death seems to have brought back those rage problems of hers that you mentioned."

Hannah nodded a few times, striving to keep her face from collapsing but her posture visibly deflated. "I just wish she could understand that I was simply doing what I felt was right." Miranda nodded sympathetically, "I know, and to some extent I think she knows that you at least had a greater good in mind. But, she has lines, they are a little obscure but she won't cross the few she has, I guess she just thought that you did too." An almost explosive sigh came from the raven haired woman, "Never meet your heroes right?"

Hannah flashed a sad grin at that, "So any other interesting gossip? Surely you girls talked about something other than how much she hates me. If that was all you two did talk about please just make something up."

But by the way Miranda's face lit up Hannah knew that it must be good, pointing at the bag lying abandoned by the entrance. "The datapad in the upper right pocket, the file should be already open."

Hannah wondered what Miri was up to but she was willing to play along, crossing the room she unzipped the bag and pulled the target datapad out. A tentative wave over the pad brought it flickering to life, and she found herself starring at a catalog?

"You two shopped did you?" Miranda only let out a very uncharacteristic giggle, she pointed again at the pad. "Look at what is on the page." Hannah turned back to it more confused then when she had began, scrolling through the listing she saw that they were mostly high end Omni-tools and translators disguised as luxury jewelry. Standard human ware such as rings, necklaces, watches, earrings, along with Asari bracelets, and those bracer like things the Salarians were keen on. "Okay I'm looking at a bunch of high end executive jewelry, I'm still confused as to why I'm looking at it."

Miranda was grinning like a cat at this point, "Eva designs it, owns the company too but apparently she designs ever bit of it, I never figured her to have such an eye for detail when it came to aesthetics like that."

Hannah glanced at the pad as though it had grown legs, "My daughter, the one who could refit a Trident fighter by her ninth birthday designs jewelry?"

"And makes quite the profit too, plenty of executives don't want to go under the knife to get implants, and if they can pay an exorbitant fee for something that is relatively cheap all the better for their prestige right. I am partial to a few pieces, the craftsmanship is quite extraordinary."

Hannah was inclined to agree as she scrolled down the page, "And her entire business is based around this?" As she scrolled to review the name of the company she frowned, "Wait, I know this company. They were marked as one of the 500 new companies on Illium to watch a year or two ago."

Miranda nodded, "Apparently she is very good at funding herself, something that I'm sure the Council is particularly pleased with given the reports I received on the way back here." According to a source of theirs Evalyn had blackmailed the Council into reinstating her, threatening to release documents she had uncovered that proved just how far Cerberus could strike into Council space if they wished. Something made all the more frightening when combined with the footage Evalyn had taken from her armor cam, edited down to the highlights of course.

Sparatus had unsurprisingly been the holdout, due more to the fact a Spectre was directly dictating terms than for any personal reasons. Her last report had indicated that he had changed his position, though no one knew what exactly had changed his mind.

A yawn erupted from her lips, which Hannah noticed with a small smile as she stood and moved to the door. Though she halted near the door's panel, pausing to glance back at the drowsy form of her Daughter. "When you wake up come see me, we just revived another batch of those creatures from Exo-Geni. Now that you are no longer tracking down those disappearances I thought you could help out the research team, maybe give those eggheads a kick in the ass while you're at it."

Miranda sluggishly nodded, "Alright, I had an idea a few weeks ago about trying to co-opt the control frequency they use."

Hannah smiled at that, thumbing the panel to grant her exit, "Night Miri."

"Night Mom." As the door slid shut, blocking the form of the blonde woman on the other side the lights inside the room dimmed, and Miranda finally gave herself in to the abyss.

S&amp;S

Saren growled at the group of thralls lingering in front of him, causing them to scatter like a pack of frightened animals. Sovereign had summoned him to what passed for a bridge on the Reaper, of course it was all just an exercise in control as Sovereign could communicate to him anywhere on the ship if it desired to.

Entering into the dimly lit room he quickly spotted Benezia who was stoically standing by the throne like chair in the center of the room. She made a small gesture to indicate that he should sit, a growl of annoyance escaped his throat but he sat down anyway.

"**Saren. We have located another beacon that appears to have escaped the purge of the last cycle, we must acquire it so that we can ascertain what has caused the change in the Keepers." **Several displays flickered to life, highlighting a garden world that he recognized, one of several 'bread basket' worlds run by the Systems Alliance.

"We're lucky that it is in Human space." A chuckle emerged from Saren's throat as a plan quickly formed in his mind. "Such a dangerous place the Traverse, it will be such a shame if the colony was destroyed, perhaps with some evidence left behind to implicate the Terminus systems. The Council will have their hands full stopping a war from breaking out so they won't even notice what we are doing."

"**We must move quickly, the Humans have already contacted your Council, it would not due to be caught in the act of acquiring the beacon." **

Saren tapped one of the screens, accessing his Spectre files to check the estimated troop disposition on the planet. As the numbers scrolled across his screen he frowned, the Alliance had moved a large number of troops from reserve locations to garrison's across the Traverse. A hard reverse from their former policy, and one that would complicate matters.

"There is a large garrison on Eden Prime, we'll need to bring in some Geth support to handle the planet, or we may risk detection by both the Alliance and the Council. Something we both want to avoid."

"**Very well, we shall summon the Geth. This delay though greatly increases out statistical chance of detection, we advise you to take precautionary measures in case you are exposed."**

With that the screens disappeared and the room returned to its former dimness. Saren dug his talon's into the grooves he had made in the chair, he stayed that way for several moments until he hauled himself out of the chair.

Turning to Benezia he ran a talon along her cheek, the ancient Asari didn't even flinch as a small gash opened behind his stoke. "Benezia see to it that you begin moving my assets out of any accounts that the Council can get at, sell anything that can't be easily or quietly transported."

She inclined her head slightly, "Of course Saren." And with a swing of her hips she turned to leave before halting, "Is there any word on the cure?"

Saren did his best to contain the smirk on his face, "No I'm sorry nothing yet Benezia." She nodded briefly before Saren added, "Have no fear I'm certain that Sovereign will ensure that it is found once we have discovered the beacon."

Benezia seemed mollified by that, "Of course, even a god needs assistance at times." Saren nodded sagely and watched her until she had left the room.

Sovereign hadn't subjugated her in the same manner of the others, instead it had played on some deep underlying fear regarding her Daughter, Liara. Offering some sort of cure that Benezia was certain the Maiden would require, Saren wasn't sure of the exact particulars but it had ensured him a loyal but still effective second in command.

Nodding to himself he accessed his Omni tool, issuing orders to several thralls to make their way to one of his storehouses in this region of space. If he was going to sell this attack as one by the Terminus systems then he would need some weapons whose radiation signature matched that of Aria's people, and he had squirreled some away for just such an occasion.

An almost gleeful smile played across his face as he left the room, the hour that he proved his worth was at hand, no longer would he have to fret over the safety of himself, or his people.

S&amp;S

The room was empty save for the armored blonde woman standing firm in the center of the room helmet resting in the crook of the left arm, the same position that she had maintained for the last hour as she waited for the Council to grace her with their presence.

Of course she knew why they kept her waiting, but she grew tired of these childish antics. Something that she felt was entirely unbecoming from a group of beings representing the pinnacles of galactic society. But she also recognized that these petty antics were the only avenue she had left them with, and so she restrained her impatience and waited.

Another fifteen minutes passed and finally the door directly in front of her slide open noiselessly. Tevos of course appeared first, regal as always, flanked on either side by her male counterparts. The Asari gave the smallest of nods, "Apologies for the delay Spectre, but the demands on us are at times endless."

Eva inclined her head in return, "Think nothing of it." Though both of them knew the words spoken to one another were just that, words.

Sparatus of course felt no need to extend pleasantries that he had no use for, "You are familiar with the Prothean's are you not?"

Evalyn couldn't keep her confusion for flashing across her face, unsure if he was insulting her with regards to Liara or if it had indeed be an actual request. Valern, ever observant pipped in to alleviate the confusion. "What my Turian colleague means is that you have some history with Protheans security systems do you not? I believe it was an assignment you undertook while you were enrolled at Arcturus' military academy."

Shepard nodded, though most of her academy days were lost to the fog of memory, a combination of some damage she had received and unconscious suppression on her part the doctors had told her. But luckily for her she did recall much of the technical side of that assignment, "Yes though I can't recall why exactly they wanted me investigating them. But assuming that any security that was employed in the Mars cache is what can be expected from other sites, than I suppose you could say I am familiar."

Tevos smiled at the news, "Excellent, you may be surprised to hear that the SA has just contacted us in regards to a discovery they made. A surprise to be sure given our relations of late, but even more so when the nature of their discovery was disclosed." At this the Asari paused, her eyes glinted with satisfaction, "A fully intact Prothean Beacon."

Eva couldn't help it as her breath hitched, her mind running wild at what an undamaged beacon could mean. The small cache on Mars had jumped Humanity forwards by hundreds of years, a fully intact beacon could rewrite society as they knew it, perhaps even explain how it was that the Prothean's vanished as they had.

Tevos continued to speak before Shepard could try to answer some of the questions swirling in her mind, "Of course we will need to bring it to the Citadel or the Republics for study, the SA is sadly lagging behind in research of this nature. That is of course why they contacted us."

Valern spoke, an almost predatory grin playing across his features, "We wish you to supervise the transportation of the beacon, a discovery of this nature is a very tempting target to almost every organization in the galaxy, and we would not see an opportunity such as this lost to the recklessness of the humans."

A frown crossed her face at the slight to her people, but she also recognized that by asking her to handle this it was no meant as such, just against the SA. Clearing her throat she voiced what she felt was the most prominent question, "Where was this beacon found?"

She wasn't sure which Councilor activated the projector in the room but a low hum soon filled the room as an image of a planet flickered to life. Sparatus' mildly aggravating voice filled the room, "It was discovered on Eden Prime, apparently it was buried in an area that was marked for settlement expansion, and your people just stumbled upon it like children."

Evalyn could feel her temper rise as her hands turned into fists, but she willed herself to not rise to the obvious bait, a task that was becoming increasingly more difficult.

Unaware of the danger to his own being Sparatus continued, "As it was discovered on an Alliance world the SA is demanding that they be the one's responsible for the transportation." The image of what she assumed had been Eden Prime flickered and changed to that of a ship, and while it was obviously of human design she was unfamiliar with it.

Tevos' voice now filled the room, a welcome respite from the Turian's. "This is the SSV Normandy, a prototype frigate jointly constructed by both the Alliance and the Hierarchy, though Sparatus' scoff told Evalyn exactly what he thought of the project. As the Council helped to fund this project you will be sent on our behalf, officially it will be to observe the new stealth system in action, while in truth you will be there to ensure that the beacon is brought to us without incident." Shepard nodded to illustrate that she understood the task before her, earning a graceful nod from the unofficial leader of the Council. "You will of course have backup, Nihlus will be undercover posing as a representative of the Hierarchy in case something unforeseen occurs."

Eva nodded, Nihlus was always a good man to have at your back in a pinch, but she needed more information before she left to get ready. "Have you considered the chances of interference by Aria, or Cerberus?" At the mention of Cerberus Sparatus bristled, "I've heard enough of that group from you Spectre, we have agreed to your request to reopen the investigation but it is in Izon's hands now. Now concentrate on the task before you!"

Shepard bristled at his comments, her body unconsciously sparking with biotic power as she thrust her finger at him, "I am concentrating on the task at hand, it seems rather childish to assume that Cerberus has not reopened another base on a major human colony when we are fully aware that one existed there before."

Tevos held up her hands, miming for both of them to calm down, while Valern spoke to address her concerns. "The crew for their part are unaware of their mission, only their commanding officer was given the details of what is going on. As to the colonists, the SA was forced to bring down the comm buoy network around Eden Prime for 'maintenance' following the discovery, and with the major spaceports currently locked down I am certain even an organization such as Cerberus would have great difficulty in sending word without being detected."

Shepard nodded in gratitude to the Salarian, who return the gesture. Sparatus of course pretending as though nothing had just occurred between them spoke, "There is a shuttle departing in several hours to Arcturus, gather whatever gear you see fit but be quick, speed is of the essence here and I won't have this operation put in jeopardy because you miss your departure time."

Eva nodded, saluting the Council more our of instinct than anything else, and began to exit the room. But as she pulled on her helmet and began to walk out the door Sparatus' voice called out again, "And make sure that you say hello to the Normandy's captain, I believe that Captain Anderson is an old family friend of yours."

Eva kept walking, unwilling to let the Turian think he had gotten to her, but the news troubled her. Anderson, never David, had been like a second Father to her after she had lost her own. The only person who had continued to stand by her after Akuze, and she was certain he would still be supporting her had she not 'died.'

Entering the lift she slammed her first into the control panel to take her to the appropriate level, leaning back she slammed her helmeted head into the bulkhead, "Shit."

S&amp;S

"I fucking told you that telling them about the beacon was a mistake!" Ines Lindholm's voice carried through the now open doorway into the conference room the Admiralty met in, only to come to a halt as she realized the room was not empty. Carson ran into her shoulder but he froze as well when he saw that the room was already occupied by a man none of them had expected to run into again.

Harrison Shepard sat at the head of the table, attired in the uniform of an Admiral, the silver spectacles adorning his face only added to the older man's glower. Ines' had no idea what was going on but she wasn't going to stand for this, the man had been out of the service for years, whatever game he was playing she wasn't standing for it.

"I don't know what you think you are playing at Shepard, but this is a meeting for the Admiralty, and last time I checked you were retired." A low chuckle filled the room, as Harrison tapped the insignia's on his left shoulder, "As an Admiral of the fleet I am never allowed to officially retire, the President has simply seen fit to return me to active duty."

Before she could retort Carson pushed past her, a smile on the man's face. "Harrison you son of a bitch it will be good to have you back." Ines groaned inwardly, of course Carson would be glad to have him back, Harrison Shepard had been the man's mentor.

She shared a glance with Hackett that confirmed he was thinking the same thing he was, that this appointment was a deliberate attempt by the President to interfere in John's plan.

Hackett sighed, before crossing the room to shake hands with his best friend's Father. A gesture which Harrison took while adding a brief nod.

Ines though was having none of this farce, and so she took her seat with a huff, fuck she wished Drescher would have been able to attend today. Carson was a lost cause, while Hackett and Harrison had history between the two of them, turning her into the odd woman out.

The other men seemed to take their cue from her and found themselves seats at the table, though Harrison seemed confused as he glanced around. "Will Admiral Singh and Drescher not be joining us?" As all at the table shook their heads no he simply nodded, reaching down he set the briefcase sitting by his chair and placed it on the table before him.

Flicking the latches he leafed through several folders within before finding what he was looking for, pulling out the copy of the President's orders he slid it across the table to Hackett. Carson though was smirking in his chair, "Still afraid of datapad's Harrison, figured that Granddaughter of yours would have cured you of that affliction." It took several moments for Carson to remember what had happened to Evalyn, but no one at the table missed the tightening of the older man's jaw. "Sorry Harrison it slipped my mind." A terse nod was all he received, which was lucky on Carson's part.

Hackett in the meanwhile had slid the folder across the table to Ines, whose eyes darted as she picked apart the document in front of her. Finally with a snort of contempt she tossed the folder to Carson, "Does he think we are fucking children that need an adult to supervise us!" The woman pushed from the table moving towards the door to leave, vaguely acknowledging Steven's voice telling her to calm down.

Carson sat down the folder having skimmed it, "I don't think it's such a terrible idea."

That caused Ines to halt her exit, turning on the bald man. "Not such a terrible idea! He demands that we ratify this relic's appointment to the non-existent Sixth fleet so that the spoiled man-child those morons elected can demand we do what he wills, and if we don't do what he wants we find our funding cut in the name of austerity measures. But you Carson will be relieved of your post of head of R&amp;D, so I can see how you think it's a grand idea you lazy bastard!"

Carson's eyes flared with anger, but before anything could come of it Hackett's voice boomed across the room, "Enough!" When neither of them made a further move he shifted his gaze to Ines, "Admiral Lindholm take you seat." Her body still heaved with anger but she nodded, stiffly moving across the room to return to her chair.

Once the blonde woman was seated Hackett began to speak, "Harrison I don't think you would have agreed to come here just to be Mills' lapdog, so I can assume that you took the offer because you want to come back to active duty." At the older man's nod Hackett seemed pleased, "Then I don't see any problem here." He glanced at Ines noticing her expression, "Ines you don't know Harrison like the rest of us, but trust me when I say that it will be to our benefit to welcome him back."

Ines sucked in a shaky breath before nodding, though she did mutter to herself that the President didn't even have budgetary authority. An action which caused a grin on all of those in the room.

Harrison though pulled out another folder, and slid is across to the woman who took it warily. As she began to read it a smile crept across her face, "How the hell did you manage that?" Noticing the confused expression on the two men still not in the know she slid the folder over to Hackett, though she began to elaborate right away. "He got Shastri to appropriate funds for laying a sixth fleet, with a promise to allocate for another two within three years."

Noticing that all eyes were on him Harrison merely shut the lid on his briefcase, "The Prime Minister and I are old friends, and I managed to get him to come around to the idea of allocating more resources for fleet expansion, of course he had his own conditions." He gazed around the room, and all of them knew what these conditions were, "No more of this poking the bear bullshit, John's dead and his plan should have died with him." The older man paused for a moment as his own words seemed to pain him, "I have nothing left in this life but the Alliance, and I won't sit by and watch it go to shit." He glanced around the room, meeting each gaze in turn, "So are you ready to actually do your job and protect our people, or do you want to keep trying to play at politics."

Hackett turned to face him, "We can't just sit by and watch let our interests be sold out by politician's just looking to line their pockets." But his statement did nothing to soften Harrison's gaze, the older man's voice was thick with condemnation, "Last time I checked you took an oath to serve, everyone of us did, and if you can't understand the importance of that then you really are hopeless." A sigh escaped from Harrison as he leaned back in his chair, "None of you seem to even acknowledge that things have changed, Udina is perhaps the most hardline Ambassador we have ever had, Amul while a politician is an honorable man. All you lot have to do is show that you are willing to play ball."

Ines glanced at him, voicing the question on everyone's lips, "And what would proof is required that we are willing to let them fuck us?"

Harrison's eyes flicked to her his face a mask of indifference to her attitude, "You let the Council's Spectres on to the Normandy, with no fuss or counter demands."

With that having been said he pushed back from the table, causing Carson's eyebrow to raise, "You aren't going to vote?"

Harrison simply shook his head, "This decision is up to you lot, I trust that you will be able to make the correct one." With that the man left the room, suppressing the grin on his face until the door shut behind him. It was good to be back he admitted to himself.

Taking a moment to compose himself he went off in search of Anderson, the man needed to know he was going to be having guests on his ship, and it would be good to see the one friend of John's that wasn't an idiot.

S&amp;S

Kahoku and Gates once again found themselves loitering in an isolated section of the Citadel, the starkly appointed room they were in was hidden inside a middle class club, the type that two humans in civilian clothes would pass unnoticed in.

Unlike last time though they were not awaiting the arrival of a Spectre, rather they were waiting on a much more dangerous individual, an operative of the Shadow Broker. Kahoku himself stood just in front of the entrance they had arrived in, while Gates had positioned herself in one of the corners to give herself sight of the entire room.

As such it was she who spotted the far wall sliding apart first, a trio of figures issuing from the fissure. The lead two were outfitted in some type of pitch black armor, the shape and bulk of the armor hiding most possible guesses at race, but the hands gave away that it they were either Asari, Batarian, or Human. But they were just muscle, the figure behind them strode forward revealing an almost skeletal looking Salarian, his body covered in robes that to his species noted a being of some import, though his robes bore the color of the broker, black, red, and grays bleeding together.

"Admiral, Lieutenant, please sit." His voice was stronger than she expected, and he spoke without the rush that many of his kind did, she had idly noticed he had gestured as he spoke but she understood why as metal chairs along with a table rose from the floor. The Broker agent sat himself on the side closest to where he had entered, while the Alliance officers did likewise.

He spent several moments getting rid of a crease in his robe before glancing at them both, giving a smile that was much to wide in Rachel's opinion. "As I'm sure you can understand I will not be giving you my name, but as I have found that dealing with a nameless individual a rather taxing affair you may call me Cloak." Rachel failed at withholding her snort at the melodramatic name, but finding herself at the receiving end of a glare from the Admiral she sunk down in her seat, muttering to herself "Dagger too busy?"

That however drew the attention of the Salarian, who flashed her a mirthless smile, his alien eyes glinting in the shadows of his hood, "She was."

As if the previous exchange had never happened the Salarian materialized a datapad into his hands, how he had moved that fast, and where the pad had been she had no idea, but it was clear what it held as he slid it across to the Admiral. "The most current known location for one Armistan Banes, along with our best guesses as to where he is likely to be right now," he paused before flashing the Admiral another of his chilling smiles, "No charge for the guess work."

Kahoku nodded his thanks to the amphibian before both he and Gates made to stand, only to be stopped by the voice of the Salarian.

"I'm sorry but if I could just have a moment." Both Alliance officers had paused awkwardly in their ascension, causing the Salarian to smile apologetically to the Admiral. "I apologies Admiral, but I meant if I could have a moment with your charming bodyguard here." The Admiral of course made no move to leave, only glanced towards Gates signaling his unwillingness to leave her alone with the Broker's people.

Cloak of course was not oblivious to the exchange, giving what Rachel assumed was his most sincere smile, "Nothing nefarious I assure you, the Broker merely wishes for me to have a somewhat frank discussion with our hero here, after all we wouldn't want her thrust forward into the events to come with no warning would we?" As he finished he made a small gesture, one that neither Gates, nor his guards missed as they shifted from a relaxed stance to one of readiness. "And please Admiral, do not mistake that for a request."

Gates found the Admiral's eyes back on her, and knowing that they had little option here she nodded to him to leave. Kahoku placed a comforting hand on her shoulder before he left, and as she heard the door hiss open behind her Cloak called out across the room, "And do not forget Admiral, we will expect you to uphold your end of the bargain," the door sliding shut was the only response, but the Salarian seemed unperturbed by it. Instead he glanced at her with a small smile on his face, "I think that went pretty well, do you not agree Lieutenant?"

As she stammered to find her voice he fiddled with his robes, before glancing back up at her, "I am sorry my dear I was rather distracted, I must confess I am a stickler for appearances." He paused for a moment before seemingly talking to himself, "Now where exactly were we."

He drummed his emaciated fingers on the table, before his face seemed to light with recognition, "As you are no doubt aware my employer is an individual of some influence, as such it is often in their interest to make connections to prospective individuals early on in their careers," he paused letting the meaning of his words sink in, "Of course my employer is also aware of a great many things that others do not, often aware of plans before said plans have even taken shape, and you my dear are a convergence of those two very qualities."

Whatever response the Salarian was expecting, it certainly was not the laughter that erupted from the Human in front of him, that same laughter which soon turned almost hysterical as she doubled over in her chair, using the table to keep herself upright.

As Rachel managed to mostly calm herself she glanced up at the Salarian, and finding his face frozen with a frown she erupted into laughter once again. This fit was substantially shorter, and with only a few more giggles escaping her she tried to speak, "So, let me get this straight," a snicker escaped her as she saw the Salarian's frown grow slightly, "Your boss, the man who could spark off the war to end all wars just because he wants to, wants me in his contact list or something?" Another batch of giggles escaped her as Cloak simply nodded at her statement.

The short haired human leaned back in her chair, "I mean I must admit I am a pretty nice looking girl, but I'm not sure that I'm his type. Plus I'm a girl that doesn't put out easy, and I'm sorry but I don't think someone called the Shadow Broker is big on the whole lets take things slow approach." Cloak merely gave her a brittle smile, "Please Lieutenant lets-"

"Lets not," all amusement was gone from her voice, instead she was looking directly into those inhuman eyes of his. "I don't care what you are offering but I will never betray the Alliance. Money, power, I don't give a shit about any of that, I joined to stop what happened to me from happening to anyone else and nothing you have to ever will ever make me change my back on that!"

As she finished Cloak's smile changed into a Jackal like grin, "Never say never my dear, but to be perfectly candid this is all just a terrible misunderstanding." Yet another datapad materialized from somewhere within his robes, which soon found its way in front of her.

She warily picked up the datapad, noting that Cload was fiddling with his robes again. Scrolling along the list she frowned, most of these were people she had heard of, veteran soldiers of the SA, many of whom she had served with. Glancing up at the amphibian she voiced her question, "So you have a list, I might need some context here."

The Salarian for his part didn't even glance up at her as he continued to adjust his right sleeve, "The top entry please." Gates frowned, but complied, and worryingly she found herself starring at her own name, "Is this some type of fucking threat? Because your goons might kill me, but I promise you will leave this world before I do."

His response was simply a cheshire cat smile, "Of that Lieutenant, I have no doubt." He leaned over tapping the top of the datapad faster than she was willing to think was possible, "But this list is not some ludicrous threat from my employer. What it is, is the list of those Human's being considered for induction into the Spectres, and no your name at the top of the list is not a mistake. As such barring some unforeseen event my employer is quite confident that you will be the proverbial basket that the Alliance has put their eggs into."

Gates' mind had tuned out half of what he was saying, it had stopped processing sometime shortly after he said she was going to be a Spectre, as her mind returned to life she managed to sputter out a response. "That can't be right, I'm just a soldier." The Salarian for his part just hummed in agreement, before giving out a small chuckle, "You may be surprised by just how many Spectres are just that, which of course brings me back to my earlier proposal." As if triggered by his statement the datapad in her hand changed to a different display, now filled with numerous figures and promises.

Cloak entwined his death like hands, "My employer has recently lost his favorite Spectre due to her semi-retirement from service, as such if you were interested in accepting the offer before you, we would be expecting you to take on board certain, duties, that she handled for us." Noticing the frown on the human he just smiled, "Of course this is all contingent on the fact that you are inducted into the Spectres, have no fear there." Unlocking his hands he gestured toward the pad in her hand, "As you can see the Broker is willing to give you substantial assistance, both intelligence and monetary. You are an investment, one that we would not carelessly throw away." He paused briefly before his face lit up as though he had forgotten something, "You would of course be able to keep your ties to the Alliance if you so wished, the Broker is always happy to share."

As he finished talking a silence descended upon the room, it was finally broken by the sound of Gates' feet hitting the ground as she swung from her chair to stand on her feet. Glancing towards the Salarian she just muttered to him, "Thanks but no thanks," and with that she began to make her way towards the exit that Kahoku had taken.

The two guards made to stop her, but they were stopped by a single gesture from the Salarian who remained seated, but he still had a card to play before he let this human slip through his fingers. "That is of course your prerogative, and if you wish to rejoin the Admiral I believe he is still waiting outside. But I have one final temptation for you my dear, one that I do not believe even you can pass up."

Gates stopped just a few feet short of the exit, glancing over her shoulder to see that same creepy smile on the Salarian's face. She let out an explosive sigh, she knew that she shouldn't ask, but it wasn't in her nature to leave a question unasked. "And what would that be?"

From the shift of his robes she could tell he had tilted his head slightly, "Why revenge for your family of course." His smile only widened as he saw the human suddenly stiffen, Cloak's only response was to lean across the table to pat the spot in front of her vacated seat.

Gates took the hit and made her way back to the table, sitting down she noticed that the datapad before her had changed once again, and now it contained but a single name, 'Ka'hairal Balak.'

She frowned at the name, it was obviously Batarian but it rang no bells in her mind. "I'm not sure who this is supposed to be, or why you think I would consider it so valuable." Cloak smirk only seemed to grow, something that she did not think should be possible, "That my dear, is the name of the man who led the raid against your colony, the man whose decisions led to you losing not only your family, but your life as you knew it."

Gates closed her eyes, attempting to will away the memories that he was conjuring up in her, she had worked too hard to break down in front of this creature. She was jolted from her attempts however by the feel of skeletal hands pushing the pad into her hands, an almost sadistic grin on the Salarian's face. "Burn this name into your mind my dear, because if you don't agree to the deal I gave you earlier you can expect to spend the rest of your days chasing a ghost as my employer forever keeps him from your grasp." As he pulled his hands back into his robes, his expression returned to his more reserved expression, "Or you can accept our offer, and be afforded the full support of the brokerage in tracking him down."

He made a small gesture, at which point his guards moved forward to escort the Lieutenant from the room, "Don't worry Lieutenant we will be in touch."

As the door hissed shut the now sole occupant stood from the chair, the Salarian busied himself with fixing his robes as he awaited the return of his guards, after all appearances mattered.

S&amp;S

Shepard moved through her apartment with purpose, sifting through a multitude of tools and devices to ensure she had what was required to deal with the beacon. If the beacon was still inactive than it would be a simple matter to transport, but Eva was not an optimist nor did she underestimate the stupidity that curiosity could birth.

She scanned her workshop one last time, not wanting to accidentally forget something only to remember it once she was standing in front of the Prothean artifact. Content that she had everything she needed she knelt down to flip the latches on the crate at her feet, it turned out she was being forced to take the shuttle to Arcturus as the Alliance did not want a Spectre's vessel idling in one of their docks while she was on the Normandy.

Normandy, she liked the name, both for how it felt on her tongue and the battle that it was named after. It seemed fitting somehow, even more so that Anderson was in command, the man deserved it.

She reached her hand to grasp the handle of the crate, but she felt her gaze shift unconsciously to a spot just above her workshop, as it often had since she had completed her side project.

She knew that it was a combination of paranoia and pride that caused her to cross the room, activating the wall panel with a thought to reveal the armored injector within. As she turned it in her hands she debated taking it with her, or to give in to her compulsion and finally attempt to use them, having finally found a workaround to the problem that had stymied her earlier efforts to control the nannites.

The injector noiselessly was deposited back inside the safe, as she willed the wall to close back up she could only stare at its disappearing form, "Not today."

Bringing her mind back to her present task she strode across the room, hefting the crate easily with her left hand. Her weapons already situated on her armor she only had to grab her helmet sitting on table near the door on her way out, as she began to take the quick journey to the spaceport she also kept her own ship at.

The journey itself was unremarkable, as was the shuttle she boarded, just one of the millions that ensured that those unable to afford a ship themselves could still move about the stars. As she moved toward the private compartment reserved for her and Nihlus she ignored the myriad of emotions that her presence caused among the passengers.

As she slipped inside the compartment she let out a sigh of relief, she disliked dealing with people, machines had always been an easier solution for companionship, not to say that there weren't exceptions such as the Turian sprawled across one side of the compartment.

"I don't think that a Turian general would be as unkempt as you are." Her distorted voice caused Nihlus to jerk from slumber, causing the uniform he was wearing to become even more creased as he tumbled to the compartment's floor.

His head groggily centered on her, his voice thick from sleep, "Is that how you treat a General of the Hierarchy, I'll have your, spirits just help me up." He limply offered his arm for assistance, tumbling back into his seat directly after she helped him up. He must have noticed her body language because he just growled at her, "I don't want to talk about it."

She shrugged as she sat down opposite of him, content to ignore the moody Turian while she worked through some requests from other agents. Given that most Spectres were little more than exceptional killers, those with technical skills were often tasked with ensuring that the grunts had the tools to handle problems that bullets proved ineffective against.

"Vasir and I are having a kid." Such a small sentence for such a massive declaration, of course her response wasn't exactly prose worthy either.

"What?!"

The Turian sighed, before pulling out a flask he had obviously been imbibing for much of the day. "It wasn't like it was an accident, we both agreed it was what we wanted, but now here I am on this mission and every time I think of them I lose my nerve." Shepard glanced at the door, overwriting the ships internal security so she was certain that no one but her could open it, satisfied that was taken care of she pulled off her helmet, this wasn't a conversation for a friend to have with an expressionless mask.

"You could always just decline the mission, I've more than got this covered, it's not like they need two Spectres on a glorified courier run." Even before she finished the sentence she knew he was going to decline, while Nihlus wasn't a model Turian he still had that damn stick up his ass. He just shook his head, "It was made rather clear that the Council was willing to let one of us retire, not both. And you know how it works for Asari, the one's without a Mother tend to be a bit," he trailed off, instead making a very human like gesture for crazy.

Shepard could only nod in sympathy, before a sigh escaped her lips. "I'm sorry Nihlus, but congratulations on your Daughter, at least something might now distract Tela from going after me." At that Nihlus burst out laughing, "I don't think anything could distract her from your ass, but who knows what the future may bring."

He paused for a moment, before glancing at her. "How are you holding up after everything, I won't lie to you, I was worried that you wouldn't pull yourself out of that pit you found yourself in." Her gaze told him much of what he wanted to know. Eva was still very much in that dark place, she was just putting on a very good show to keep herself moving.

"The nightmares are back." She realized the question that was about to be asked and headed it off, "Not anything in particular, some nights just a single event plays out, others they twist together into some grim slide show of my life." She paused, head bowed starring at her hands, "Sometimes I find myself wondering if it would have been better had I perished on Akuze, to have died ignorant and happy in being so."

Nihlus waited a while, but when no reply was forthcoming he sighed before taking a swig from his flask. "Well look on the bright side, had you died that you wouldn't get to be my Daughter's Guardian." That caused Eva to glance up, though it took her a moment to realize that he was referring to the Turian equivalent of a Godparent, a friend of the family who embodied ideals the Parents felt important.

"I'm not sure I would be the best choice, given that I seem to be in a continual state of being a fucking mess." Nihlus though just shrugged at her, flashing his Turian smirk at her, "Just think of it as you making Vasir and I look better by comparison." His smile faltered for a moment before he grew serious, "In all seriousness Eva, we would love it if you would be there for our Daughter. This life doesn't afford us many friends, but we are both glad to call you ours."

Eva at that point became aware that she was probably crying, that or the room's fire systems had gone off. But she managed to nod, smile, and cry all at the same time. Before finally grinning at the Turian, "There aren't many people in this galaxy that I can stand, and you and Vasir stand well above that low station."

Nihlus just smiled at her statement, while Eva tried to bring herself to a semblance of her normal self. As she finally let out a shaky breath she glared at the Turian, "Anything else, or do you plan on making me cry again before I return to work."

"That's all the tears I plan on wringing out of you Shepard, though if your work turns out to be that boring don't come crying to me." Shepard's huff of annoyance at his pun set the Turian to laughing, but she ignored it, content enough to enjoy time with her friend.

S&amp;S

Hackett followed the sound of laughter that echoed inside the frigate, the crew were still mostly on board the station proper, with only a small skeleton crew of engineers doing last minute checks on the ships systems.

As he descended down the stairs, entering into the communal dining area he found the two men he was looking for. Anderson and Harrison both sat at the lone table, a bottle between the two men, though the bag at Anderson's feet promised more. Anderson's eyes shifted at the moment, catching sight of Hackett appraising them, "Steven, you plan on joining us, or just standing there?"

Hackett approached the table, setting his cap down on the edge of the table as he took a seat, a glass propelled across the table by the oldest man in the room found its way to his hand.

"You're already two behind Hackett." Harrison's voice was a growl, but that was how he had always talked to Steven. Instead of replying Hackett simply tilted the glass back and finished it in a single go before sliding it back to Harrison who refilled it without a word, Anderson for his part just chuckled at the exchange, being familiar with both men and their relationship with each other.

Anderson turned to face Hackett, "So who are the Council sending?" Hackett for his part had just finished downing his second glass, sliding it once again back to the elder Shepard, "Nihlus Kryik, and Mirix Varan," Anderson's wince at the former name did not go unnoticed by the other men at the table.

Harrison slid Hackett's glass back across the table, speaking more to the air than anyone in particular, "You can't distrust someone just because Saren trained him, from what I can tell they aren't even that close," the older man took a drink from his own glass before glancing from Admiral to Captain, "What I want to know about is this Varan, she's been rather high profile for such a new Spectre, bit unusual given that she is Asari." At that statement both men could only nod, most Asari Spectres spent their first decade or two mostly training, or doing undercover missions before graduating to the big leagues.

Anderson shrugged, "Talent will always trump tradition in my opinion," Hackett's scoff caught his companion's attention, and noticing their gazes he simply smirked, "Anderson we are talking about a Race that still lets monks execute citizens based on some ancient code, tradition is not something they ignore readily." Harrison for his part was inclined to agree but there was some slight explanation, "She apparently spent a large amount of time on Illium, which means she grew up outside of the Republics." Anderson nodded at that, "True, as far as it goes."

Hackett sighed, "We need this to go off without a hitch David, I have full faith in you and your crew, but I can not stress how crucial this is. If the Council somehow thinks we tried to double cross them over this beacon business, I don't think that the Asari will bother even trying to call off the Turians." Harrison nodded at the thought, but the solemn mood was shattered by a sudden snort from Anderson.

Finding both Admiral's confused glance upon him he just burst into laughter, "Do you remember what John said when he saw the Asari peace delegation," both men chuckled at the memory. John had been injured during the battle to retake Shanxi, but had fled sickbay upon waking only to stumble into the hanger as the Asari delegation had disembarked, Steven replied to Anderson's earlier inquiry, "I think it was something along the lines of, 'I died and woke up in a B movie.'"

The trio chuckled a little at the memory, though it was as always short lived as their thoughts turned towards what had happened to the man, and his family.

Harrison sighed, deciding he may as well get this out of the way now than later, "Hannah's alive still isn't she," Hackett's reaction was all the answer that he needed, as the man struggled to keep his face controlled before giving up and nodding to confirm the older man's suspicions.

"Figures that the bitch would still be alive, ran off back to her master did she? And of course you covered it up, always had a thing for her didn't you Steven." At the tightening of Hackett's jaw he knew he had struck a nerve, the younger man growled out leaning forward in his chair, "Anything else you want to get off your chest Harrison?"

Harrison's fist answered that question, sending Hackett sprawling to the floor, who quickly regained his footing fire blazing in his eyes as he surged forward. But that advance was halted as Anderson managed to haul him back, trying to pull the struck Admiral out of the room, "Steven just let it go!"

Despite the words Hackett continued to fight off the Captain, but Anderson was in better shape and managed to pull him towards the stairs. "Steven I need you to leave, I don't need two Admiral's kicking the shit of each other on my ship." Hackett finally stopped struggling, before nodding a few times as his breathing leveled out, "Alright. Just, go and get my hat will you."

Anderson slowly let him go, but he didn't let go completely not entirely certain that his friend wouldn't attempt to reengage. Anderson motioned to the stairs, "Go upstairs, I'll bring it up to you," only to hear a thud as the hat was thrown across the room to their position, Steven's jaw looked like it was about to shatter but he just stiffly picked the hat off the ground and marched out of the room.

Anderson let out the breath he had been holding the whole time, before turning to level a glare at Harrison who was pouring himself another glass. "What the hell was that about?"

Harrison made no move to reply for some time, simply swirled the drink in his hand around and around, before he finally sighed and sat the glass down on the table. "Evalyn," the name hurt both men, but Anderson still didn't understand what he meant, "Harrison I'm not sure I know what she could have to do with you punching Hackett."

An uncomfortable silence settled across the room before Harrison spoke again, "She wasn't supposed to be a soldier, that was the deal, she agreed to take the position at R&amp;D, until that son of a bitch convinced her after the fucking attack with an offer for N-school." Both men were silent for a while, but Anderson finally spoke up, "It was her choice, you can't blame Steven for the choices that Evalyn made."

"It might not be what I should do, but it is certainly something that I can do, and quite frankly I'd prefer to be pissed off at him than pissed off at my departed Granddaughter." Anderson could only nod, before lifting his glass to the older man, "To the departed."

"To the departed."

S&amp;S

Evalyn found it unsettling to be back on Arcturus, the station had been the closest thing she had to a permanent home growing up, as they hadn't visited her Grandfather on Earth all that much.

Harrison Shepard hadn't truly been on great terms with his Son, and he never approved of Hannah, but he had doted upon his prodigy of a Granddaughter, who had in turn enjoyed being with one of the few people who encouraged her to pursue her work in cybernetics. So she had found it rather strange to find out that he had recently returned to active service, and while he was in good shape for a man his age it didn't change the fact that he was old enough to have an adult Granddaughter.

But his return seemed to harbor some shift in Alliance attitudes as they had put up a minimum of fuss with her last minute addition to the crew, so she could only assume that he had taken to active duty with his usual gusto.

She strode towards the hanger that held the Normandy, aware of the numerous stares following her armored form as she strode among the numerous Alliance personnel moving about their appointed tasks. It was at that point a voice cut across the hanger, "Spectre Varan!."

She turned to find a Lieutenant jogging towards her, the man was a little older than she was, but given his physique, rank, and age she was fairly certain she knew his name from the roster. "Lieutenant Alenko I presume," her distorted voice carried forth, electing a nod from the Lieutenant who saluted as he reached her.

"I'm here to escort you to the Normandy Ma'am," Eva twitched at the use of the honorific, memories of Tess taunted her, "Spectre will do Lieutenant." Alenko nodded, and gestured for her to follow him, though she noticed that he winced as a Mako drove by them.

"Enjoyed your last night of shore leave too much Lieutenant?" Alenko shook his head, "No just a side effect of my implant, not that I'm complaining, most L2's have it off worse than I do." She nodded in sympathy, her Mother had hidden her biotic talent until they were certain that the L3's were safe, something that she was forever grateful for.

The rest of the walk passed in silence, except when Kaiden called out the occasional greeting to someone passing by. Finally they came to a door that according to her HUD was actually guarded by a security program that bordered on sophisticated, child's play to her of course but she could appreciate the effort that had went into it.

The door opened after Kaiden inserted a pass card into the door, giving her a magnificent view of the ship. As they walked towards her she drank in the lines, the ship was magnificent.

"The Hierarchies observer arrived here earlier today, so once you are on board we should be heading out shortly. I hope that she will impress you, I know that the Council invested a lot of money into this project." She nodded at the Lieutenant's question, "I hope that she impresses me as well Lieutenant, she is a stunning vessel I must admit."

Kaiden smiled at her statement, "Well I have my orders to get you squared away, and I think Doctor Chakwas wanted to see you, something about needing your medical information I believe." She only nodded in reply, as the two of them entered the boarding hatch of the Normandy.

S&amp;S

AN: Well there we have it, end of the prologue, huzzah.

This idea actually first came to be back when XCOM's expansion came out, the mech troopers in the game kind of stuck in my mind, which eventually cemented into Evalyn's cybernetic nature. Though originally Evalyn was going to be out and out Cerberus, and Earthborn. But something just didn't click, and so after numerous freaking reworks we have our sentinel, spacer, sole survivor with anger problems.

Miranda was always meant to be integral, before back when Evalyn was Cerberus she was going to be her handler/friend, but as I decided to go more and more AU I kind of just wondered what Miranda would have been like if she had an actual parental figure. Which of course I had to make convoluted by making it Hannah.

For those who haven't read the comics that include Eva Core, or as she is known here Hannah Shepard, she's pretty much a badass, who really likes machines. But she ends up literally dying in the most contrived fashion possible just to kill her off so that in the end Harper and Saren are the only one's left standing in the end. I'm going to flash to some actual Shepard family moments in the next story, as I'm pretty sure I made Hannah out to be a terrible parent, which was never my intention. Ironically John was originally supposed to be the terrible parent, but it just seemed like drama for no reason.

So I hope you all enjoyed the story, I really appreciate all those who stuck through it and the fact this fic surpassed 10000 visitors surprised me.

So thanks for all those who reviewed, or just hit follow/favorite. I'm not certain how long it will be before I post the next story, as I'm currently neck deep in outlining because I don't want to make the same mistake I did here, but I hope to have it up before the end of August.


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